The City of Bastrop hopes to receive a Louisiana Community Development Grant in order to proceed with the next phase of sewer line improvements.
City clerk Sandra Goleman said the sewer line repairs were mandated by the state Department of Environmental Quality several years ago, and the city has been taking advantage of the Community Development Program to fund the necessary repairs.
Motorists have probably noticed construction areas in the city, in which workers have opened up a square-shaped hole in the street. Goleman said these are areas in which the sewer lines can be repaired through “slip lining”, in which a liner pipe is pulled in the existing clay pipe to compensate for leakage and structural deterioration with minimal surface disruption.
“They’re broken into quadrants,” Goleman said of the sewer lines. “We’re taking them one section at a time.”
Last week the Bastrop Mayor and Board of Aldermen resolved to apply for another Community Development grant to continue the project. The board further resolved to use $40,000 in local funds for administration fees and to select Waxmans III to administer the project; and to use up to $61,243 in local funds for engineering fees and to select Denmon Engineering to do the work.
Each grant application is comprised of a two-year process. Goleman said once the city applies for the grant, the mayor is usually notified of the amount to be received in June or July.
The state-funded sewer line work is unrelated to Bastrop’s being chosen to receive $1,510,500 through the DEQ’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
Although distributed by the state, the CWSR funds are coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and are geared toward improvements to the city’s waste water treatment facilities, rather than the sewer lines.
Goleman said the city has kept pace with the DEQ mandate to repair its aging sewer lines by taking advantage of the state funds available.
“I know we’re way ahead of schedule on the project,” she said.
