Workers Ready to go in Breckenridge for Wind, Sewer Work
Even in a troubled economy, the construction season will soon get underway in the mid-Michigan area, with roads and streets torn up, buildings remodeled and even new construction begun.
Likely the busiest spot in Gratiot County this summer will be the Breckenridge area as installation of 133 wind turbines take place and the village’s overhaul of its sewer system begins.
The $6.4 million sewer upgrade, financed in part with a $1.5 million federal grant, will begin with the clean up of its 22-acre lagoons, said Jeff Ostrander, village manager.
“It’s over capacity in our lagoons,” he said. “They haven’t been cleaned up. In the first phase we will re-do the banks. It will have to be done in phases.”
Like other aging systems, rainwater infiltration is a major problem.
“You know you’ve got a problem when five times more water than sold shows up in the sewers,” he said.
Within the next three weeks, the system will be televised to determine where the breaks and infiltration is taking place.
“There will be a needs assessment of everything,” he said.
Workers will move from manhole to manhole examining everything and making repairs to pipes