With the final segment of Highway 75 under construction, Sioux Center is already enjoying more than 2 miles of new sewer main this project replaced through the core of the community.
“Before highway construction began, our mayor and council decided to invest in updating the underground utilities, including the sewer under the highway,” said Utilities Manager Murray Hulstein. “It was a big decision, but we are going to experience the benefits for years to come.”
Sioux Center replaced 2 miles of sewer main, from 16th St. SE to 12th St. N, as well as 90 service lines from the main to the customer’s right of way line. It was some of the deepest underground work in Highway 75 construction, some more than 30 feet deep, and would have been impossible to replace with traffic on the highway, Wastewater Department Head Zeke Ellis said.
Some of the old sewer mains and services were original to Sioux Center, dating back more than 100 years. They were a variety of materials, ranging from clay pipe to ductile iron to Orangeburg pipe that was prone to failing as it aged. These were all replaced with modern plastic pipe.
“The old pipe had tree roots growing inside and grease lining,” Ellis said. “Now we have more capacity for water to go through.”
Replacing the old mains also eliminated places where rainwater and groundwater were seeping into the sewer pipes and ultimately traveling to the wastewater treatment plant.
“That’s been a major benefit of flow that we’ve seen. We have seen a reduction of 95% of the inflow and infiltration coming from along Highway 75,” Ellis said. “That allows more capacity for wastewater running through our pipes instead of rain water and it reduces cost of treating excess water.”
Sioux Center also added a new sewer force main near Walmart with bigger pumps and pipes to help serve growth. That allowed an aging lift station near 12th Street SW to be removed.
“This is all part of our overall master plan to improve the wastewater collection system,” Ellis said. Every little bit we spend on replacing pipe underground is a cost benefit in the end of equipment and manpower needed to handle large rainfall events. This is a generational collaboration of all utilities of the City of Sioux Center that we’ll be able to look back at in years to come and say it was done right.”
