Photo by Jeff Clemens - Ongoing repair work in the park near the Northwest Carriage Museum.
The City of Raymond Public Works Department is near completion of repairing and backfilling where a wastewater line broke at the Riverfront Park next to the Northwest Carriage Museum. Many residents had suspicion the city was placing a new addition to the park such as a pond or fountain. "It would be pretty nice to have one," Raymond Public Works Director Eric Weiberg said. "Unfortunately, the city has a lot of other projects that I think funding would be a higher priority towards."
City workers weren't entirely sure what was the issue at the park until they dug down to find out. "At first we had suspicion it was a irrigation line out there," Weiberg said. "It ended up being one of the wastewater lines to the pump station. It was a really small whole and we were able to get it shut off and repaired. It was pretty deep and required us to dig pretty big hole."
As a precaution Public Works removed dirt and pumped out all the water in the whole due to contamination concern. "We took it to the the treatment plant to get it all treated," Weiberg said. "We filled it back with rock and treated the ground with lyme and now are just keeping everyone out."
Due to the potential of a health issue Public Works treated the entire area with lyme that was or possibly was contaminated to kill any bacteria that was possibly present. "Once it sits for a bit we will take a sample of the soil and see if more treatment is necessary," Weiberg said.
The line that broke is only anticipated to be around 40 years old which according to Weiberg is fairly newer for the area compared to lines they often come across. "We're not sure if it was just a small flaw in the system or what," he stated. "It got a hole in it and it shouldn't have happened."
Once filling in is complete and contamination concerns are gone Weiberg plans to have a crew reseed the area to get area back to top shape. "It'll be nice if we can get it seeded and ready for this summers events," Weiberg said. "Luckily, it's early in the year so we have some time."
Raymond will also see more projects being undertaken in the near future with Washington Dept. of Transportation planning to begin their drain and roundabout project in late-May or early-June according to DOT Project Engineer Colin Newell. "During that time the new sidewalk will be installed from Duryea Street to Heath Street," Weiberg said. "DOT is still talking about putting in the crosswalk across Hwy 101 from Duryea to the other side of Duryea too."