EPHRATA – After more than 70 years, the Ephrata sewer line has gotten a brand-new sewer liner. The project impacted about 14,000 feet of sewer line and cost a bit under $1 million. 

“We have a history of some sewer lines that were installed in the 50s. Over the past several years, there seems to be one that collapses every year,” City Administrator Ray Towry said. “This project was specifically to hit those lines. It was common practice to use concrete piping back many, many years ago, and what we've learned is that the gases that are emitted by the sewer actually eat away at that concrete, so the tops of those pipes actually just erode from that.” 

Towry said there were several parts to the sewer line where there was no top and the ground just formed around where the concrete had been.  

“We were just fortunate that as the ground and the rock had settled, it kind of settled into a natural arch. The roof was falling off slowly and being carried down with all of the sewer,” Towry said.  

The project started with the sewer lines being filmed to assess the conditions throughout the city. The video showed that there were several areas that needed repair, according to Towry.  

The city ended up adding a new sewer liner to around 14,000 feet of sewer line, which cost the city around $998,000. The process also included cleaning out the entire sewer line, videos of before and after, and the actual liner itself.  

“We had a company come in, and they are able to run a pliable material from one manhole to the other, pressurize it and heat it with steam, which causes it to then harden into a PVC-like material,” Towry said. “That lines the inside of the pipe, so you don't have to do any of the excavation, you don't have to shut down traffic. You're not cutting into your roads or your streets. It's just a really slick process, just much quicker, much easier, much faster, a lot less disruption.” 

Towry said this should cut down on any issues with the sewer.  

“People in the Northeast section, it seems like annually there was a street or a road that we'd have to close off for a few days while we dug up a line and put in a new pipe,” Towry said. “So, this should alleviate that. That's our hope. Unless there's some issues out there that we weren't able to see on the camera. But we don't think that's the case. We think that we have got everything. We think this is a much, much less expensive and much less intrusive, proactive approach to taking care of this.”