Mike Wolanin | The Republic Snow plows are parked for repairs in the new Bartholomew County Highway Garage in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. County highway employees started moving items and equipment into the office this week.
Expensive repairs were required on the grounds of the Bartholomew County Highway Garage less than two years after the facility opened.
Two grinder pumps within the lift station next to the building that houses large trucks burned out, county maintenance supervisor Rick Trimpe said.
A lift station is a pumping station that moves wastewater from a lower elevation to a higher elevation. The benefit of using a lift station in a sewage collection system is that it saves a substantial amount of money in excavation costs, which involves digging for sewer pipes.
What caused the problem east of Petersville was two ball-shaped mechanisms used to turn the pumps on and off that became stuck, Trimpe said.
“(The pumps) just ran and ran until they burned up,”the maintenance supervisor said. “They weren’t able to push the sewage down for about a quarter-of-a-mile.”
The cost to replace the two grinder pumps totaled $9,842.
This particular area of Clay Township has a history of not being able to properly drain storm water. Some residents of the nearby Royal View subdivision put up with drainage issues in their yards for decades after the housing development was created in the 1970s.
One reason for the problems is that clay soil forms tight layers that often won’t allow drainage, according to the Twin Oaks Landscape Planning Guide. Another reason might be heavy machinery that compacts the soil and breaks down its structure, destroying air pockets that allow for drainage, the guide states.
In Royal View, efforts were made to address a number of drainage problems prior to the construction of the highway garage. For example, agreements were made that allowed the county to repair and maintain drainage on land owned by the Solid Waste Management District and farmer Anthony J. Harden, who owns more than 20 acres directly north of the subdivision.
A new drainage ditch was also constructed on the north and east sides of Royal View, while existing drainage ditches were cleared out.
