By Georgia Thelen
Review Staff Writer
The Village of Lake Orion is currently drafting and debating plans to replace the aging water infrastructure with final decisions set by December.
Hubbell, Roth & Clark, Inc. (HRC), the Village’s Engineering Consultant, was authorized to start work on November 9, 2015 regarding the MDEQ-mandated Water Reliability Study and General Plan to satisfy the requirements of Part 12 of Michigan’s Safe Drinking Water Act.
The study was completed and submitted to MDEQ by HRC in late June.
Due to the findings, it was made apparent that improvements in the Village water systems would be needed in order to meet the current recommended fire flow goals and minimum pipe sizing standards (8-inch pipes).
Based on the Village’s water main ages and conditions, HRC is recommending that the Village replace all of its two, four and six inch water mains with HRC’s 8 inch mains.
“Our water has about 11 percent loss in the system, you usually see about 10-15 percent. For the age of our system, we’re actually at the lower end of water system loss,” said Village Manager, Darwin McClary.
The water loss is not the significant issue that the Village faces, it is the degradation of the ageing infrastructure.
The replacement of the majority of existing water mains would equal about 7.4 miles of piping throughout the Village and is estimated to cost about $7.8 million. Replacing these water mains would ensure the health and safety of residents during emergency situations as the 8″ replacements would mitigate the current fire flow issues and be more than capable of providing ample water in an emergency.
“Our biggest concern is life safety,” said Orion Township Supervisor, Chris Barnett.
HRC has recommended the Village split this project into four segments as to not cause access issues on too many roadways at one time.
Segment 1 will include areas northwest of the Village staring at M-24 and moving west onto the peninsula. Fire flows are worst in this area, which makes it the top priority for the project. This segment includes 11,500 feet of water main replacement and will cost around $2.3 million.
Segment 2 includes streets southwest of the Village such as Heights and the southeast corner of M-24 by Glanworth Avenue. There have been a significant amount of breaks in this area over the years, thus the replacement would include 11,000 feet of mains and is estimated to cost around $2.2 million.
Segment 3 will include a portion of streets northeast of the Village such as Broadway, Jackson and Shadbolt. Segment 3 requires the replacement of 9,100 feet of mains and would cost around $1.8 million.
The final phase, Segment 4 includes the southeast portion of downtown streets off Orion Road. This phase is the smallest, replacing only 7,600 feet of water mains and costing an estimated $1.5 million.
Each segment is projected to take about one construction season to complete, with HRC looking to start in Spring 2017 pending Village approval.