CIPP project to boost sewer performance

By Cameron Rasmusson
Reader Staff

A program scheduled to begin this year is expected to improve the performance of Sandpoint’s wastewater system.

City officials awarded Planned and Engineered Construction a contract Wednesday to install a cured-in-place-pipe, or CIPP, system. The upgrade is designed to reduce the amount of groundwater that infiltrates the wastewater system, which inhibits its effectiveness. According to Sandpoint Public Works Director Amanda Wilson, CIPP technology allows for trenchless installation, dramatically lessening the project cost and disruption to residential service or street traffic.

CIPP technology is essentially a jointless, seamless liner that is installed in existing pipelines, thereby rehabilitating the line without the need for an expensive replacement project. The city has utilized this method of pipe rehabilitation since 2006.

“It’s like a pipe in a pipe,” Wilson told Sandpoint City Council members.

The contract was awarded to Planned and Engineered Construction, which came in with a low bid of $228,055. The project will involve 5,400 linear feet of both 8-inch and 10-inch CIPP lines being installed into the following street sections: Main and Cedar streets from Alder to Fifth; alley lines between Spruce and Larch on the west side of Division; Superior from Boyer to Euclid; Third from Superior to Idaho; Spruce from Boyer to Fourth; Superior from Euclid to Fourth and Cedar from Fifth to Second.

The project is expected to run from mid-May until July.

“Obviously (this won’t impact) the Lost in the ‘50s portion of time,” Wilson said.