photo by: City of Lawrence

City crews respond to an emergency repair on a sanitary sewer main.

The City of Lawrence’s Municipal Services and Operations Department is performing an emergency repair on a sanitary sewer main on 27th Street, east of Haskell Avenue.

Michael Leos, a spokesperson for Municipal Services and Operations, told the Journal-World via email that crews identified a problem Friday evening with the force main beneath Haskell Avenue at 27th Street. A force main is a pressurized pipe that carries wastewater from a pump to a treatment facility. Upon inspection, crews discovered the pipe was broken.

Leos said that over the weekend the city used vacuum trucks to transport wastewater in the area to the wastewater treatment plant, and on Monday night crews prepared to begin the emergency repairs.

To maintain sewer service during repairs, the city is installing temporary pumps and above-ground piping, including a 4-inch pipe laid across Bonanza Street, Rawhide Lane and Harper Street.

There are several street closures south of 27th Street, including Bonanza Street, Rawhide Lane and Harper Street. The city is suggesting that motorists use Maverick Lane as a detour. People going to the Prairie Park Nature Center should use 28th Terrace.

The roads are expected to be closed for two to three weeks, the release said.

“Our wastewater travels out of our homes through underground pipes,” Leos said in the email. “These lines are not pressurized, so gravity takes this water to a nearby pump station. At the pump stations, water is sent into a different pressurized line so that it can be sent up higher elevations to the wastewater treatment plant where it can be treated and deposited into the Kansas River.”

Leos added that Lawrence has a lot of hills and changes in elevation, so the process is necessary to prevent issues with the city’s wastewater system.

In addition, the 27th Street intersection at Kansas Highway 10 will have closures overnight this week as part of the South Lawrence Trafficway expansion project. Closures began on Monday and will continue through Wednesday with crews working nightly from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. to place beams for the new K-10 bridge over the 27th Street/Wakarusa Drive interchange.

The work will require 27th Street to close at K-10 throughout the overnight working hours; no detours will be posted during the temporary closures.