SOUTH HAVEN | Less than a year ago, rainfall caused water to overflow into the streets from some 20 manholes controlled by the former South Haven Sewer Works.
Now, 10 months after Aqua Indiana took over the sanitary sewer system, that number has been cut down to five. Company officials hope to bring that number to zero.
That improvement probably is the most visible example of the progress the company has made, said Bill Etzler, the company's vice president.
This year, the company expects to invest $1.8 million in the sewer plant and in the field, said company CEO and chairman Nick DeBenedictis, who visited the South Haven plant for the first time this past week.
"We went in with a plan with what we thought we could do. Everything we said we would do, we have done," DeBenedictis said.
In the first four months his company owned the plant, it invested some $400,000 in improvements, he said.
Most of those improvements have targeted infiltration of rainwater into the sanitary system. Aqua didn't find any "big leaks," Etzler and DeBenedictis said, but it found plenty of smaller problem areas that are due primarily to the age of the system.
This summer the plant is undertaking two major projects. One is currently under way, and the second begins July 27. Both are aimed at improving the plant's efficiency and will cost $750,000 altogether.
One project will rehabilitate and repurpose the four concrete tanks at the station. After the work is completed, Aqua probably will be able to use only two of the tanks for treatment, plant superintendent Mark Aurich said. The other two will be used for stormwater storage.
The second project will replace an antiquated manual screening system that had to be cleaned by hand -- a dangerous task, DeBenedictis said -- with new screens that will be cleaned mechanically and increase the plant's capacity by 100 percent. That will allow more water into the plant and prevent backups in lines leading to the plant. Both projects are set to be completed by the end of the year.
Etzler said company officials also hope to start two large field projects this year, including improving underground structures on LaHonda Drive between Eagle Creek and Devonshire streets and improving a line between Freemont and Clearcreek roads.
Aurich said Aqua also has improved efficiency and saved money by recycling water, which saves $2,000 per month.
The company has not raised rates since taking over the plant, and DeBenedictis said the company won't make a decision on that issue until it reviews its year after the third quarter.
"We're spending four times what we make right now," DeBenedictis said. "We're not allowed to recover the costs at that rate. Our goal is to fix it first because that's what we've committed to do. Then we'll worry about the financials."
The company will be "very, very open about, very transparent" if a rate increase is indicated, he said.
