10-Year Inspection Program

Sanitary Sewer System

The City of Pella's sanitary sewer system is a network of pipes and access manholes that convey wastewater from homes, businesses and industries to the wastewater treatment plant located one mile south of Pella.

A major portion of the system is quite old, constructed from about 1900 to 1920. Pipe sizes range from 8 inches to 36 inches in diameter and are primarily constructed of clay tile, along with plastic pipe used for more recent installations.

Commencing in the fall of 2004 the City of Pella Public Works Department, Wastewater Division, initiated a 10 year program to clean and inspect the entire 76.5 miles of the City of Pella's sanitary sewer system as well as the 1,647 manholes. The purpose of this program is to be proactive in locating and repairing problem areas in the sanitary sewer system.

Typical problems in the system include tree root intrusions, poorly installed or protruding private services, cracks or fractures in the pipe wall, holes in pipe walls, and pipes that are in danger of collapse due to age or structural failure. Repair methods vary from doing a point repair at the area of the defect either by excavation or cured in place pipe, to lining of an entire segment of sewer with cured in place pipe, or complete excavation and replacement of an entire segment of sewer.

As a result of these inspections thus far we have performed lining projects on seven segments of sewer, repaired several serious defects, removed constrictive root intrusions and trimmed many private services protruding into the sewer pipe. Please call the Public Works Department, Wastewater Division, at 641.628.3800 if you have any questions about this program.