Collapsing Sewer Lines Could Cost Lower MUA

VILLAS – While the Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) plans to install a number of water mains to bring municipal water to homes in Villas and Town Bank, it may also need to replace a number of aging sewer lines.
At an April 7 MUA Board of Commissioners meeting, Executive Director Mike DeMarcantonio said a major sewer line collapsed at Kentucky and Oak avenues Tuesday. He said MUA workers are making the repairs without the need of an outside contractor.
DeMarcantonio said most of the MUA’s gravity sewer mains are made of asbestos/cement.
“They’re 40 years old and that is about the life expectancy,” he said.
There are 30 pumping stations in the township where force mains discharge into gravity sewer mains and they are not discharging properly. DeMarcantonio said that is stirring up hydrogen sulfide gases and over 40 years, the gas has been attacking the pipes.
“The pipe either mushrooms at the top and then collapses from the weight of traffic or the pipe deteriorates at the water line level and them collapses on itself, in essence what happened at Oak and Kentucky,” he said.
He said MUA was aware of this problem from a similar collapse at Star and Caroline avenues.
“The previous administration had no plans for replacing these pipes, there was nothing in place to inspect them or do maintenance or anything else, so now we’re hit in the face with this,” said DeMarcantonio.
He said the board requested last month the sewer mains in 30 areas be inspected with a video camera to determine which ones need to be a priority for replacement.
The sewer mains in the worst condition will be repaired first, said DeMarcantonio. He said he hoped there would be no further collapses in the near future.