Contract awarded for wastewater pipeline work
By Randy Bell
A Florence company has been chosen to construct the initial segment of a pipeline which will allow Clinton to stay in compliance with state regulations dealing with the discharge of its treated sewage, while also giving Raymond and Bolton an acceptable way to deal with their wastewater. Hemphill Construction Company submitted the low bid of $14,612,575 to lay approximately 28,000 feet of pipe, most of it 36 inches in diameter, with some sections of 24-inch pipe. Consulting City Engineer Greg Gearhart says the contract is for work along a section of the project called the “junction.”
“There will be a line coming from Clinton along the north side of I-20 to connect to this,” Gearhart says. “There will also be another line coming up from the vicinity of John Bell Williams Airport that will be bringing the flow from at least one of the Raymond [treatment] plants and Clinton’s big Southside plant. And then it starts heading west to get to the [Big Black] river.” That’s where the pipeline will end.
The decision was made to begin the work at the junction to increase the chances of receiving state matching money to help pay for the pipeline.
“This was chosen as the first segment, because we are using Mississippi Municipality and County Water Infrastructure (MCWI) funds for almost $5 million of this [to] match with $5 million of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.”
The MCWI grant program was the Legislature’s effort to encourage local governments to spend ARPA money on water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure improvements with cities and counties competing for the matching funds.
“When we looked at the criteria that they had, [the junction] was going to be the segment of pipe that was going to put us in the best position to make sure we got that funding,” Gearhart says, pointing out that the City was able to double its money, giving it $10 million toward the $14.6 million cost of the first segment. And, while that’s a lot of money, it’s only a fraction of the overall price tag for the piping and treatment systems—now estimated at around $140 million.
The project has been described as “a 19-mile pipeline.” But Gearhart says that’s the distance from downtown Clinton to the Big Black.
“The actual backbone of the pipe system will be substantially longer,” he says.
And, along its path, right of way acquisition is ongoing. In addition to approving the Hemphill contract for the first phase of the pipeline, the Board of Aldermen at its March 4 meeting authorized a payment of $4,670 to one of the property owners across whose land the pipeline will run. And Gearhart says efforts continue to secure additional easements along the 5.3 mile stretch.
“We’ve got about half of them in hand already, and the rest of them we anticipate having in hand by April 1,” he says. “We’ve already got the right of way company hired to provide these same services on the remainder of the lines.”
A total of fifteen property owners are involved in the first phase, with easements to be requested from another thirty landowners along an additional 9.2 miles fronting I-20 toward the river. Each parcel of land’s value is established based on the fair market value of comparable property. Gearhart says there is a process for a landowner who believes an appraisal is too low to provide information justifying a higher amount.
