Commissioners hold emergency session for sewer interceptor repair

The Ponca City Board of Commissioners held an emergency session at noon Wednesday because a section of a 30-inch concrete sewer interceptor going  into the Bois D’arc lift station suffered a structural failure in a section connecting the first upstream manhole and the manhole at the lift station.

Emergency sessions of the board are extremely rare; the last was in 2008, City Manager Craig Stephenson said. Key points of calling an emergency session include the board finding that an emergency exists which endangers the health, safety and welfare to a degree that must waive the Competitive Bidding Act.

In this case, because of the pipe failure, the possibility of unpermitted discharges arose. The board voted unanimously to recognize this a sufficient hazard to waive competitive bidding.  City Attorney Mike Vanderburg said the cap on an emergency expenditure is $75,000.

The board also voted unanimously to authorize Urban Contractors, LLC, of Oklahoma City to perform emergency slipline work for the interceptor for the price of $72,580. Urban Contractors had sufficient amounts of 27-inch slipline liner pipe on hand to complete the 340 feet section at the Bois D’Arc Interceptor.

The slipline is already on site and work will start immediately this afternoon.

Hong Fu, Director of Environmental Services, said a main concern was to repair the structural failure quickly enough to avoid a Notice of Violation from the Department of Environmental Quality and protect the health of residents.

Fu said portable pumps are available to pump any overflow to a wet well. She said the failure of the section was not caused by weather, but the repair needs  to be made before the next rain storm.

The photos above show the failure of the 30-inch concrete sewer interceptor going into the Bois D’Arc Lift Station. The map indicates the path of the sewer.