Sewer tunnel project called vital to the city -QCTimes
To those of us that read blogs, go to meetings, and really get into boring stuff like infrastructure and city planning, this is old news. That leaves about 98% of the city of Davenport that probably couldn't tell you what this "west side diversion tunnel" that all the candidates mentioned even is, at least prior to this article. Its interesting to see some of the less sexy topics covered in the Times as well, and a sewer tunnel is high on the unsexy list. Its good to hear that everyone is agreeing on the need, but I also hope we can plan potential west side sprawl better than was done in the Elmore area. Mostly I'm intrigued by the ideal of big distribution center-type industry along the I-280 corridor. We're in the perfect spot for that kind of project, at least judging by our centrally located position in the US.
I know I've been slow on posts lately, but hopefully that will improve soon. Consider the rest of this an open thread and feel free to discuss non-sewer topics.
6 comments:
What kills me here, is if this was in East Davenport, everyone would be screaming "let the developers pay for it".
And while it is indeed great to see all of those that want to lead our city actually looking forward, instead of back; I wonder if they or tax payers as a whole understand how this is going to be paid for.
Some Federal Dollars surely. But are we as a community ready for the significant sewer tax increase that will be needed to pay the city bonds?
Don't get me wrong, I think this is what local government should do. I just wonder, if the band wagon really understands the committment they are making?
I'd hope that as a result of this infrastructure that the city does grow a lot, and these new residents can pay their share in taxes, too. That would take some, if not most, of the burden off of us existing taxpayers.
I really hope that the State of Iowa and Feds cough up some money for this, and it doesn't drag on for years like so many other things that need state or federal funding seem to do. What does it take to get state and federal money to this area? If this were Des Moines, or even Dubuque for that matter, this project would already be half done.
Actually, the city has worked with the Feds on this, starting back with the 2002 council. In fact, I think Harkin and boys already got some $'s for planning, testing and such.
But Federal $'s are complex, and it's kind of like "stand in line, and wait here".
The good news is, the Council appears 100% behind the project. And thats important, because the Fed's don't want to waste time.
My thought are that when or if the tunnel is built, what about the Water Treatment Plant? Will that aging structure be able to support the extra flow/solids loading? What about the aging sewer line that this tunnel will connect with and the extra hydraulic loading that will be added? Will the infiltration of river water that happens when the flood waters come be also fixed? What this tunnel brings to us as a possible solution to growth on the west side could very well me larger problems to the city in whole down the road.
I think the candidates need to be asking these questions before proceeding on with any expansion of our sewer lines.
for $45 million couldn't you just build a second treatment plant?
I propose they put it right next to the new West-end Library.
"The good news is, the Council appears 100% behind the project."
Well, it's hard to tell if it's 100% since Meyer refuses to answer the question.
I beleive the cost will also update the treatment plant as rquired.
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