MOOSE JAW — City hall replaced nearly 130 sewer and water connections last year, while affected homeowners paid almost $11,000 to cover part of those upgrades, a new report shows.
Coun. Kim Robinson asked city administration during the June 10 regular city council meeting for information about labour and materials for excavation, backfilling and surface work to complete sewer line replacement projects in northwest Moose Jaw and the interest rate and extended expenses that this replacement costs the city and proper owners.
Administration provided an answer during the recent July meeting, saying the operations department calculates the costs for the external portion of sewer and water service connection replacements using three scenarios: open trench, common-trench pipe burst and non-common-trench pipe burst.
Common-trench pipe burst is when the water and sanitary mains are in parallel alignment within 2.4 metres of each other, while non-common-trench pipe burst is when the mains are not within 2.4 metres of each other.
Since 2019, the operations department has completed these projects using the pipe burst method because it provides additional benefits, the report said. These include less damage to homeowners’ yards, the replacement of pipes goes into the house rather than just one metre from the outside wall, and the city can install a backflow valve.
Last year, city crews replaced 126 sewer and water connections, with 111 of these replacements performed using the pipe burst method. Meanwhile, four were open trenches, nine were riser-only replacements, and two were partial replacements.
“When replacing service connections using the pipe burst method, homeowners also receive a separate invoice of approximately $3,500 to $4,000 before taxes from the contractor for the internal portion of the work,” the report said.
Only the cost of the external work is eligible to be repaid through property taxes over seven years at seven per cent interest, the document continued. Meanwhile, the average costs for sewer and water connection replacements last year were:
- Excavation: $6,609.48
- Backfilling: $1,590.84
- Materials: 678.32
- Surface work: $1,966.34
- Pipe bursting (exterior): $4,594.82
- Overhead and admin charges: $1,840.96
- Subtotal: $16,704.43
After excluding $6,059.37 as the city portion, the average cost for property owners’ portion was $10,885.61.
The city portion is comprised of material costs for the city-owned portion of the water line replacement — shut-off valve to the main — and costs shared for the excavation, backfilling and surface work, the report said.
Homeowners are responsible for the water line from the home to the city shut-off valve and the sewer line from the building to the sewer main, the document continued. The costs of replacing the water connection are shared with the municipality, considering part of the line is the latter’s responsibility.
“The area of the city is not a factor in determining replacement costs,” the report said.
Estimates are specific to each property, while the city prepares those estimates using many variables, such as:
- Vertical depth of water and sewer mains
- Length of trench or laterals from the house to the main(s)
- Removal of trees
- Use of one or more trench cages
- The size or number of excavation(s) required for crews to access the underground infrastructure
- Distance between sewer, water and storm mains
- Other utilities
- Landscaping on city-owned property
- In the northwest corner, multiple locations have sewer and water mains in opposite boulevards that create price differences between neighbouring properties
The report added that city hall reviews and updates labour, equipment and material rates annually and will review this process further in the third quarter.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, July 22.
