Forest, Ohio

Small towns like Forest, Ohio, have the same sewer infrastructure issues as cities like New York or Chicago. However, they don’t have the same budget or manpower to fix their problems.

But public works officials in Forest are smart. They discovered that vacuum sewer technology by AIRVAC would solve their problems at a cost they could afford, and the contractor who installed it is now a big believer in the technology.

As you might expect by their name, Forest is a town with many large, mature trees. It also is a city built on a layer of bedrock. These factors made engineers cringe at the thought of installing deep gravity sewers, a project that would be extremely expensive and disruptive.

With AIRVAC, the contractor was able to install new collection lines in trenches that were, on average, only five feet deep. By comparison, a gravity line would have required a trench 22-feet in depth. Also, the system required only one vacuum station instead of multiple lift stations, another big cost saver. And, because vacuum sewers are closed systems, Forest has no infiltration and inflow (I&I) worries, as do cities with gravity systems.

“We’ve recommended vacuum sewers to lots of cities,” said Joe Musgrave, general superintendent of Kirk Brothers Company, the company that installed Forest’s vacuum sewers. “Public works crews love vacuum technology and vacuum sewers typically cost less to install. They make everyone’s life easier.”

This article appeared in the September, 2004 issue of Underground Construction. If you would like to read the entire story as it appeared in the magazine, you can download a pdf, or you may request hard copies.

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