CALDWELL, Idaho — "It's an old system that doesn't function very well," said Robb MacDonald, City of Caldwell Public Works Director.
MacDonald is referring to the old lifting station in Caldwell that helps with sewer flow within the city, and he says a new option is much needed
"It's nearing its capacity, and it's hard to upgrade it because it's not designed for any upgrades," MacDonald said.
"You have areas where the sewer runs in a gravity pipeline, but if it gets too low and it's not ableto make it all the way where you need to get it, you run through a lift station and that boosts the sewer to a higher elevation," MacDonald said. "And then from there the sewer continues to run gravity all the way down to the treatment plant because our city is relatively flat, there are some areas where you have to have these lift stations."
Residents tell me they're concerned city officials are rushing to turn off the lifting station to make way for a new hotel near 21st Avenue and Stock Trail. But city officials want to put a stop to those rumors.
"I know there's a misnomer that maybe the hotel that's coming in on that side or other development is triggering the necessity to remove that lift station, but that's not the case," said MacDonald.
Instead, MacDonald says they're now moving forward with a project that was once halted by a contractor in 2021.
And these pipes that were sitting near the old lifting station for years will finally be put underground.
"It's better to get a gravity line built to the lift station because by doing that, we are taking the lift station off line and we no longer have to pay power on that lift station forever to run those pumps, the maintenance goes away," said MacDonald.
MacDonald also tells me the gravity line project will help with capacity issues as Caldwell continues growing.
"The issue with the lift station is it pumps up into another sewer line that runs to the old part of town and so that sewer line is completely maxed out because it's getting all this lift station flow and this new line that we are building puts all this waste water into a new line that is designed for that," said MacDonald.
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