City of Bartlesville to fix residential sewer lines
A new pilot program to repair residential service lines will alleviate both the financial burden on Bartlesville homeowners and strain on the local wastewater collection and treatment system.
Approved by the Bartlesville City Council on Tuesday, the program allows the city to spend $100,000 addressing residential service line defects that would normally be the responsibility of homeowners.
Smoke testing in 2021 revealed 89 service line defects in two Bartlesville sewer basins — one near Wilson Elementary School and one near Jane Phillips Elementary School. These defects are contributing to sewer overflows in those areas during heavy rain. Fixing the defects is expensive however, usually costing between $500 and $9,000, Bartlesville Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen said.
In the pilot program, the city will reach out to homeowners in the area of those sewer basins and offer to pay for the service line fixes. If the homeowner refuses, they will have 60 days to fix it themselves. If it is not addressed, the city can impose fees, take the resident to court or even stop utility service.
“In the past we’ve been somewhat hesitant to use the hammer that is in the ordinance just because in a lot of these areas, it’s not economically feasible for them to conduct some of these repairs,” Bartlesville City Manager Mike Bailey said.
“This allows us to go in and address it, but doesn’t alleviate the owner of the responsibility for maintaining their own system. It strikes a really good balance. We’re much more comfortable enforcing the ordinance once we’ve given them a different option.”
Lauritsen said stormwater inflow is one of the “biggest challenges” in Bartlesville’s wastewater collection systems. In the areas being addressed in the program, heavy rainfall results in peaks of 15-18 times the average flow in the system — which is only built to handle a peak of 4.5 times the average flow.
Homeowners who agree to the repair will sign an agreement acknowledging they are retaining ownership of the property. The repairs will have a one-year warranty.
For now, the pilot program is limited to homes where specific defects were detected by smoke testing. The city expects to make repairs at about 20 homes, but the scope of the project will be unclear until cameras are used in the area, Lauritsen said.
Several local plumbers will be contracted for the work, with repairs spread out over six to nine months.
“We’ll try to utilize all the local plumbers that we can who are qualified to do this and do it in as timely a manner as we can,” Lauritsen said.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: City to fix residential sewer lines
