Sumrall officials have received the results of reports on the town lagoon that were authorized about a month ago, with results coming in even better than expected.
The reports looked at several possible maintenance projects for the lagoon – which is located just north of The Oaks subdivision and treats all the waste from the town’s residents and business – looking ahead at future growth of Sumrall. Topics included a quote for stabilizing the chlorine house at the lagoon, a quote to replace the piping in the contact chamber at the lagoon, a quote for relocating chlorine treatment at the water treatment plant and quotes for building a shelter for the generator at the water treatment plant.
“Initially, it appears that the results are better than we expected,” Mayor Joel Lofton said. “We were concerned that we would have to do something in the immediate future, but we’re looking at several years down the road before it appears that we will be required to act.
“So that gives us time to do well and save, and prepare for it for the future. Which, to me, is a better outcome than getting that report in and saying, ‘oh my goodness, we’ve got to do something right now.’”
The lagoon reports were ordered because, although the site is currently in good shape, it is approximately 40 years old. Because of that, officials wanted to take pre-emptive measures before any problems could arise.
The contact chamber is the part of the lagoon where treatment actually takes place; replacing the piping is part of the regular maintenance at the site.
“With the treatment process, some of that creates a good bit of wear and tear on the piping and such,” Lofton said in a previous story. “So it’s normal maintenance, but we are due for some of the improvements there on the contact chamber.
“Nothing has failed and nothing has broken, but we want to mend any issues. So we’re looking to move forward with those as a preventative measure now.”
Lofton said in the 40 years or so the lagoon has been on that site, there has been some undermining caused by erosion and the movement of water in the area. Those issues have necessitated the quote for relocating chlorine treatment at the lagoon.
“The slab that the chlorine treatment facility is on is undermined and cracked,” Lofton said. “We had evaluated it and considered repairing it, but the cost to repair it was significantly more than the cost of replacement.
“So we will have a temporary move and rebuild that site back to the original – or probably better – specifications. Rather than attempt to repair it at a greater cost, we’ll save considerably by more or less starting over.”
Lofton and the Sumrall Board of Aldermen are expected to look over the reports in more detail at the next board meeting.
“It’s a technical report, and what we’ve asked our engineers to do is to take that report and to give us some information, based off all the technical aspects of it,” Lofton said. “We’re looking for a projection of our capacity today, and then projected out through the years, given the growth we’re experiencing.
“So we want to know how long we’re good for before we need to have some serious maintenance taken care of. By doing that, we plan to start allocating those funds so that when we get to that point, we’ll be able to handle it and it not be a shock or surprise.”
