10/18/2007
Media Contact:
Angie Nussmeyer, (317) 327-6709 |
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City Breaks Ground on High-Priority Sewer Project
Septic Tank Elimination Program to bring sewer service to more than 500 homes
INDIANAPOLIS – A $21.3 million project that includes more than 500 homes will replace failing septic systems with city sewers in a high-priority neighborhood on the city’s southeast side, Mayor Bart Peterson announced today.
Mayor Peterson, Indianapolis Department of Public Works Director Kumar Menon and Julia Dunkman, executive director of the Franklin Township Chamber of Commerce, participated in a groundbreaking ceremony today at the Franklin Central Christian Church, located at the corner of Franklin Road and Southeastern Avenue.
“Installing sanitary sewers leads to increased property values, improved environmental and health conditions for neighborhoods, and most importantly, a better quality of life for thousands of Indianapolis residents,” Mayor Peterson said.
Due to septic system failure rates, the Franklin/Southeastern neighborhood is a high priority for the city’s Septic Tank Elimination Program and is part of the Southeastern Corridor project, which is one of the largest STEP projects the city will complete over a 20-year period.
A Marion County Health Department survey of the Southeastern Corridor area found that more than 50 percent of residents had failing septic systems in need of repairs.
“All septic systems have a limited life and eventually fail,” Director Menon said. “Bringing sanitary sewers to these homes eliminates unhealthy conditions and ensures their sewage will receive high-level treatment.”
When septic systems fail, human waste leaches into groundwater, backyards and neighborhood ditches and streams. Septic systems are linked to high E. coli bacteria counts in many small neighborhood streams and ditches during dry weather, when children are most likely to play in them. Some septic tank owners get their drinking water from private wells, which can be vulnerable to contamination by E. coli bacteria.
In addition to sewers, residents in the Franklin/Southeastern project area also will receive drainage improvements to eliminate standing water in streets and flooding in yards during wet weather.
Phase I of the Southeastern Corridor project includes 900 properties and is divided into four project areas, one of which was completed earlier this year. Franklin/Southeastern is the next project area in Phase I to undergo construction, and the two remaining project areas are being designed. Phase I will bring a new sewer artery to the city’s southeast side. Nearly 1,660 properties will receive sewers when both phases of the Southeastern Corridor project are complete.
In the past, the city replaced septic systems with sewers through the state's Barrett Law, which allows municipalities to charge residents for such improvements. The use of Barrett Law was abandoned in 2005, when the City-County Council approved a measure to create the Septic Tank Elimination Program (STEP).
Under STEP, the typical property owner's cost to connect to the sewer is reduced by approximately 50 percent. Property owners are responsible for costs on their own property, including abandoning septic tanks, hooking their homes to the new city sewer and paying for permit and connection fees. The city created an installment plan available to low-income residents to repay the $2,500 connection fee over time.
Some 30,000 Marion County homes are served by private septic systems. The STEP program will provide sewer service to 18,000 Marion County homes in 140 high-priority neighborhoods by 2025. Since the program began in January 2006, more than 1,500 homes will be connected to city sewers by the end of the year.
STEP is a key component of Mayor Peterson's Clean Streams-Healthy Neighborhoods initiative, designed to curb raw sewage overflows into rivers and streams, address chronic flooding and eliminate failing septic tanks across the city.
For more information about STEP or the Clean Streams-Healthy Neighborhoods initiative, please visit www.indycleanstreams.org.
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