Ball State University and Muncie Sanitary District are debating the source of an enormous clog in the city's sewer system and who will pay for its removal.
MSD discovered the sediment blockage, which filled half of a 60-inch pipe and ran for several thousand feet, during a routine inspection of the pipes in the northern part of the city. The source of the blockage remains unknown, as it could have been caused by years of build-up, the draining of Ball State's Duck Pond or a combination of both, Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations for Ball State, said.
Mike Rost, district administrator of MSD, said Ball State University pumped sediment into the sanitation sewer during the Duck Pond's draining and contributed to the clog.
To dredge the pond, Ball State obtained a permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Organizations such as the Department of Natural Resources oversaw the removal of sediment.
The permit Ball State received allowed the university to pump water without sediment into the sanitation sewer, Rost said.
"When I found out that [Lowe] was pumping that stuff from the pond into the sewer I told him, 'Hell no, you can't do that,'" he said.
In addition to Phase Two of the McKinley Project this summer, workers removed more than 30 years' worth of sediment from the Duck Pond. Only 2 feet of water remained between the surface of the pond, which has a maximum depth of 5 feet, and the top of the sediment. The naturally occurring elements of arsenic, barium and lead were found in the sediment that was removed.
At no time were Lowe or Ball State told to pump water containing sediment into the sewer system, Rost said.
Lowe said that he was given the go-ahead from Rich Huyck, director of the Bureau of Water Quality, to pump the sediment-heavy water from the Duck Pond into the city sewer system.
As long as the water flow was strong enough to carry the sediment with it, Lowe said Huyck approved pumping it into the sewer.
Huyck, who reports to Rost, could not be reached for comment.
To create a strong water flow, Lowe and the contractors set up two pipes leading into the sewer. One pumped water containing sediment from the Duck Pond and the other pumped sediment-free water from a reservoir set up by construction crews.
The block could have been caused by sediment already in the pipes as Muncie only cleans the pipes every 10 years, Lowe said. A shift in the pipe could have contributed to the water flow, slowing to the point it could not carry sediment.
When he found out about the blockage around the middle of August, Lowe said he told Rost that Ball State would be willing to pay for anything that resulted from the university's construction. The university is cooperating fully with MSD on the removal project, Lowe said.
The total amount for cleaning, including labor, cannot be determined at this time, Rost said. The cleanup, which he expected to last only three or four days, has taken more than two weeks and 1,000 work hours. Rost said he could not estimate when the work would be completed. Crews are only working on weekends and at night, which are non-peak hours that cost more than normal working hours. This is necessary because of the volume of water that comes through the system during peak hours, typically 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Removing the sediment is not an easy task, Rost said.
"To clean this out, you have to have special training. You have to be lowered down into the sewer, and a dam has to be built to keep the water back. It can be very dangerous," said Rost.
The blockage of the sewer ultimately could have led to sewage back-up into many peoples' homes and businesses, he said.
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