Union Township is moving forward with three water projects that would total nearly a million dollars. The plans include maintaining two water pumps and creating a water loop for the township with a water main on Pickard Road.
Both projects were approved by the township economic development authority and the Union Township Board of Trustees. These projects were included in a list of projects for 2018 that was approved by the EDA in their meeting on April 17. The board of trustees approved the budget amendment that put these funds towards the projects at their meeting on April 25.
The cost of both projects will total out to around $975,000. Funding comes from the township’s water and sewer funds and the east and west DDA funding account.
The first project is to extend the 12-inch water main on Pickard Street to create a water loop with the other 12-inch water main that is on Summerton Road, located at the entrance drive of the Soaring Eagle Water Park.
“We’re going to loop those two in that area from Pickard to Summerton, up to that drive in to the water park,” said Kim Smith, township utilities director.
The water loop helps provide easy water isolation in the event of a pipe break in the area.
“You can turn off valves on one side and still be able to service the other,” Smith said.
The new set up would also increase fire flows, or the quantity of water available for fire-protection purposes, in the area. Smith said this is because the looping of the water system will increase pressure, which in turn increases the fire flow.
The other two projects involve the rehabilitation and improvement of two pump stations, pump station one, located on Enterprise Drive, and pump station 14, located on May Street. A rising number of new customers, including the water park, are increasing the flow of water in the station. This is the reason that work is being done on these stations, according to Smith.
“Not only are we rehabilitating it, but we are upsizing it to accommodate the increased use on that system,” Smith said.
What will be done with these projects will include replacements on the largest station components, which include the pumps, the wet wells and the internal piping of the system. The electrical system is also being replaced.
Pump station one services the main area where the water loop is being created.
Smith said that construction work on pump station one will start in the spring of next year. She also said Union Township anticipates that pump station 14’s work will be completed this year.