18-04-2025
Porter allocates $350,000 for Swain Road pump station repairs
A deteriorating manhole for a Town of Porter pump station could lead to a public health emergency if it is not addressed.
The Porter Town Board approved spending up to $350,000 on emergency repairs for the Swain Road pump station last month. It hired Buffalo-based Wendel Companies to design the needed improvements.
After town officials conducted a site visit at the pump station with Wendel engineers on March 7, they determined the current arrangement of sewer main lines entering and exiting this manhole would cause gases inside to build up, leading to failure.
Wendel engineer Robert Klavoon said the Swain Road pump station takes in all of the sewage from the western part of Porter and pumps it south towards the Lewiston Water Pollution Control Center. It also takes in sewage from another pump station near Old Fort Niagara, running along Third Street.
'The manhole that is just upstream of it is deteriorated,' Klavoon said, due to a build-up of hydrogen sulfide gas in the system. Town Supervisor Duffy Johnston and Youngstown DPW Superintendent Greg Quarantillo added that the force of water going through the system is creating a swirling effect that exacerbates the deterioration.
Despite its location at the end of Swain Road in the Village of Youngstown, the pump station is Town of Porter property.
Klavoon said the repair plan involves putting a new, precast manhole in its place; the new manhole is 15 feet deep and covered with an epoxy coating to prevent future deterioration. The old manhole will be excavated and bypass pumps will run for a week or two as the work occurs.
Wendel is about 50% complete with design and hopes to get it out to bid in the next 30 days. The bidding process will take eight to 12 weeks to complete.
It's anticipated that work will start in late summer and take around four weeks to complete.
