Morgan Drive residents in Lewiston will soon learn whether a new sewer line in their neighborhood is necessary.
The town is contracting the GHD Group out of Buffalo, whose vice president, Robert Lannon, serves as town engineer, to conduct soil boring and topographical work. The study will cost the town $16,700.
“It’s basically just a study to see if it is even a possibility,” said town Supervisor Steve Broderick. It is not known how long the study would take to complete.
According to correspondence between the town and GHD, the town is considering building a new “relief” sewer serving the Morgan Drive area east of North Fifth Street. This new sewer line would redirect sewage down North Fifth Street, turning into Vrooman Drive, and along Dutton Drive toward the town’s Water Pollution Control Center in a more efficient manner.
GHD plans on subcontracting work to Alden-based NW Contracting to do soil-boring work, four borings 20 feet deep, and to Terra Pointe Land Surveying for topographic survey work.
Once the field investigation is complete, if a new line is needed, the town will then determine whether to put the project to bid or to build it via its own means.
Morgan Drive was one of the streets most impacted by flooding after several heavy rainstorms over this past year. Rainfall this past January, June, and July have had stormwater seeping into sewer lines, causing backups into the basements of Lewiston homes.
Residents came to several town meetings demanding improvements to their water and sewer lines.
The town’s highway department has been working for the past few weeks on replacing a collapsed pipe at the intersection of Morgan Drive and Lower River Road which drains out into the Niagara River.
The town approved a backflow preventer grant program in September as another remedy for impacted homeowners. A $2,000 reimbursement would be provided to help cover the cost of installation.