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Cloverdale awarded $500,000 stormwater grant
CLOVERDALE -- The Town of Cloverdale recently got some good news as it was awarded a $500,000 grant, which will be used to address storm water drainage issues.
It was more than year ago that the Cloverdale Town Council along with Kristy Jerrell of Jerrell Consulting and Grant Administration Services began preparing for the application process for the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (IOCRA) grant, which not only included finding funding for a match of $125,755 but creating a storm water board, which has since instilled a $5-a-month fee for residents in hopes of keeping a storm water utility to be used for further improvements.
The newly awarded grant will be used to address ongoing drainage problems along Lafayette Street from Columbus Street, south to Doe Creek, which were identified as problem areas through a 2010 drainage study. It is this area that is also a main contributor to inflow and infiltration, a problem that has plagued the town for years.
"There is a partial storm sewer piping along Lafayette Street, south of the old railroad bed that flows south toward Doe Creek," Jerrell stated. "These sewers are very old (1950s or older) and have been constructed of a wide range of materials (corrugated metal pipe, vitrified clay pipe and concrete pipe, along with some patch segments of significant PVC and high density "polyethylene pipe)."
With the existing storm sewer being very shallow along with it having evidence of root intrusion, receiving the grant was vital to the town being able to improve its system, as the existing system along Lafayette Street does not provide adequate storm water capacity due to inadequate/inconsistent pipe size and failures in the pipe.
"The current system essentially functions poorly as a subsurface drainage tile with very few open inlets," Jerrell added. "Due to these deficiencies, the town is experiencing significant flooding and standing water, which is proving to be a hardship to the residents within the community."
Due to the lack of drainage, the town has also had issues with inflow and infiltration, especially in the project area, for years.
It was noted that during slight and moderate rainfall events, the town's waste water system experiences anywhere from 400,000 gallons per day to 500,000 gallons per day influent flow to the treatment facility with the average daily flow during dry weather conditions being between 250,000 to 300,000 gallons per day.
"The town is experiencing considerable inflow and infiltration into the wastewater collection system as a result of the dilapidated/inadequate storm water infrastructure," Jerrell explained. "These almost 40 percent additional flowsincreases are due to the condition of the sanitary sewer system, but are also due to the inability to effectively convey storm water away from the sanitary infrastructure. These additional flows also require additional expense by the town to treat the storm water through the wastewater treatment facility."
With inflow and infiltration (I/I) issues having plagued the town for years, Cloverdale commissioned a wastewater planning study, funded with local dollars, back in 2002. From that study, the town went on to complete several projects including a $1.5 million SRF I/I project in 2003, a $3 million SRF wastewater treatment plant expansion project in 2006 and a 2012 IOCRA $675,000 grant funded project for the Doe Creek Lift Station to address urgent wastewater issues due to notice of violation from IDEM. Then, in 2009 the town commissioned a comprehensive drainage study to examine the current storm water problems and to prioritize recommended improvements, such as the drainage issues on Lafayette Street.
"There are other non-priority areas not being addressed by this project (Stardust Hills subdivision, Grant and Market streets, West and Water streets and Doe Creek Drive), but since the town's storm water utility is now set up, these other areas will be addressed when funds are generated," Jerrell noted. "The storm water improvements project will include 4,150 linear feet of storm sewers including larger capacity storm water pipes and other drainage related structures.
The project will include such things as the replacement of the existing 8-24 inch undersized/deteriorated storm sewer pipe on Lafayette Street starting at Doe Creek and continuing to Logan Street to include: installation of 3,370 linear feet of HDPE pipe in the right-of-way and crossing under roadways and 17 residential driveways, driveways will be restored by backfilling with compacted stone so that the driveways do not settle; installation of six PVC yard drains, installation of nine manholes 5 feet in diameter and four manholes four feet in diameter; installation of four catch basins, 15 catch basins, one concrete end section (30 inch) at the outtake which flows into Doe Creek and 450 yards of asphalt pavement replacement.
Replacement of existing/damaged 18, 24, and 36-inch culverts and storm sewers starting at Logan Street running south and parallel to Lafayette Street to include: installation of 200 linear feet of RCP pipe under the roadway and 505 linear feet of 24-inch HDPE pipe, installation of 40 linear feet of 24-inch culvert and 40 linear feet of 36-inch culvert, installation of three manholes four-feet in diameter and a total of 20-square yards of pavement replacement. Additionally, the project area will also include the demolition of the existing drainage structure as well as site restoration, which will consist of landscaping and erosion control.
The total cost of the project is $625,755 with $500,000 being funded by the IOCRA grant along with a match of $125,755, which consists of $17,965 town General Fund, $17,965 town Food and Beverage Fund, $17,965 town CCI Fund, $17,965 town CCD Fund, $17,965 town Water Fund, $17,965 town Waste Water Fund and $17,965 town Edit Fund.
"The storm water improvements project will allow the town to improve its storm water collection and conveyance infrastructure by increasing the system capacity in the most critical/high priority area, replacing non-continuous/damaged/deteriorated portions of the existing system capacity in the most critical/high priority area, replacing non-continuous/damaged/deterioration portions of the existing system, reducing the likelihood of future flooding and minimizing potential damages caused by flooding and standing water," Jerrell explained. "This project is a step to fix urgent storm water issues as well as being a long-term commitment to invest in projects that benefit the health, safety and quality of life of residents within this high prioritized/problem projected area."