Last year, heavy machinery rumbled up Locust Street, digging into city streets as part of a decade's long sewer separation project.
On Monday, crews labored on South Fifth Street as the estimated $50 million construction project, which could increase in cost, made its way toward South Street.
Two of Burlington’s three sewer basins are already separated by storm and wastewater, but the MASL basin is the largest and most complex. Within the MASL Basin are four sub-basins, Market, Angular, South, and Locust streets.
Burlington is under mandate by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency to have the sewers separated in six years. City officials are hoping for an extension on that deadline, and Burlington was one of a handful of communities granted government money for a project study. If an extension can’t be acquired, sewer customers will likely have to foot the bill.
Photo by Jeff Abell