Fraser OKs study to address abandoned pump station

FRASER — Ever wonder about that shed near the Dairy Maid? It’s the abandoned Linden Pump Station and it’s set to get a study by the city’s engineering firm.

The study follows flooding in the area in 2018. The Fraser City Council unanimously approved a $30,500 engineering study with the engineering firm Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick, Inc. at the council’s Sept.12 meeting. The city manager can approve up to $7,500 for field services needed for the study.

The pump station utilized sewers running underneath houses in the area, according to AEW Vice President and Director of Engineering Mike Vigneron.

“Did these people not have basements? How could they not know they had sewer lines under their homes?” Councilwoman Patrice Schornak said.

Vigneron said in most cases the houses impacted do not have basements.

“The sewer’s relatively deep,” Vigneron said. “I believe they’re all on slab or crawl spaces.”

The likely option, according to Vigneron, is to replace the sewers and hook up the lines to nearby sewers.

He said once the study is complete, the project would go before the City Council to determine a potential funding plan.

Lesich said, with agreement from Vigneron, that if the problem isn’t addressed it could potentially lead to a sinkhole.

“These are some of the oldest parts of our city,” Lesich said. “A lot of these sewers were put back in in the 40s or the 30s before anybody thought about building houses there or building apartments or other things. It just kind of got paved over.”