Work underway on wastewater treatment plant

Motorists crossing the downtown New Albany Tallahatchie River bridge on Bankhead Street have noticed heavy equipment at work in recent days.

36-inch diameter steel pipe and 30-inch diameter PVC pipe being used to install new pipes for the new wastewater treatment plant.

What they are seeing is excavation work and installation of a new wastewater line that will be about 8,000 feet long when completed. It will connect the city’s old wastewater treatment plant with the new one being built about 1.5 miles north of town near the right bank of the Tallahatchie River.

Bubba Perry is shown emerging from the steel box around the excavation site where a 35-inch diameter pipe is being installed under the Tallahatchie River, the Bankhead Street bridge and the BNSF Railroad bridge in downtown New Albany. The steel box protects workmen from cave-ins during the work.

Ronnie Iby of Morton, Mississippi, the contractor responsible for boring under streams and bridges along the length of the pipeline, said his company has completed six of the 12 bores that will be necessary for the wastewater treatment plant.

The work shown in these photos is for a 90-foot-long bore under the river, the Bankhead Street bridge and the BNSF Railroad Bridge in downtown New Albany.

Iby said his company is installing a 36-inch diameter, 90 foot long steel pipe under the river and bridges. Inside the steel pipe will be a 30-inch diameter pipe made of polyvinylchloride (PVC).

Steel boxes are built around the boring site to protect workers from dirt caving in upon them.

Work is also underway on the upriver side of the Tallahatchie River Bridge next to Moss Hill Drive.

The pipe installation is some of the early part of the work for the new $14-million dollar wastewater treatment plant. The project is financed by a grant and loan package awarded to the city by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Bill Mattox, manager of the city owned New Albany Lights Gas and Water Company (NALGW) told NAnewsweb.com last week that he expects the project to be complete in about two years, autumn 2021.