Sewer work takes timeout

Officials ponder next move after sewer bids arrive double what was expected for work

Sewer work in Middlesex could be suspended until the surge in construction subsides.

With sewer construction costs escalating, the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) on June 4 recommended the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) reject both $82 million bids received to build a 17-mile forced main sewer pipeline from Saluda to Deltaville and connect to an existing HRSD pipeline in Mathews County on the way to Yorktown for treatment.

As part of this motion, the MCBS voted to recommend to HRSD that it divide the 17-mile pipeline project into “small component parts to allow smaller contractors more opportunity to bid on the project.” The motion also recommended that HRSD “rebid the project in two to five years” when most of the federal spending has been reduced and contractors have more capacity to construct the project and a better bidding environment emerges.

Only two construction bids to build the forced main were received in April by HRSD and both are almost twice the engineer’s estimate of $45 million, according to HRSD’s website.

Recess

The HRSD forced main project is in recess until June 25 when the eight-member HRSD Commission decides which option will work. The commission knows what it will cost now, and it will be tasked to estimate what sewer will cost if it waits.

The next HRSD Commission meeting is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 25. Public participation and observation is available electronically via Microsoft Teams. Requests to receive a link to the virtual meeting, address the Commission, submit written comments to be read into the minutes or to request accommodations to attend the meeting in person must be completed by noon one business day prior to the meeting and can be made to the Commission Secretary at https://www.hrsd.com/meeting-minutes.

Short term

Until HRSD builds a “forced main” pipeline, wastewater will be treated at the central Middlesex plant in Saluda behind the courthouse, and the Urbanna treatment plant. Both discharge into Urbanna Creek.

Once HRSD’s pipeline is complete both local plants will be shut down and the wastewater will be treated at Yorktown, about 40 miles from Saluda.