Bend’s 27th Street sewer project nears finish line

Bend’s 27th Street sewer line project is finishing up. Started in 2010, it has created 43,000 feet of new sewer line, which is about 8 miles.

The sewer line officially spans from the Murphy and Parrell Road roundabout near Third Street and goes through King’s Forest and down 27th Street.

Crews had to dig as deep as 36 feet to place part of the pipe in the ground.

Some of the challenges crews faced while laying the pipe included running into unanticipated utilities, rock caverns, and the management of traffic flow.

The sewer line allows the city to decommission around 20 pump stations that were hard to maintain and consumed large amounts of power.

Wastewater now will be redirected on gravity-fed lines to the water reclamation facility east of Bend.

“What this does is open up more lands for development,” said principal engineer Eric Forster. “We were running out of capacity in the southeast portion of town for sewer, and there were a bunch of homes that were on septic, and that gives them the ability to have gravity sewer service.”

According to the city, 7,000 single-family homes now have added sewer capacity and 15 miles of fresh, new pavement.

Mayor Casey Roats said it’ll open up economic opportunities and allow the city to construct more homes.

“This community took a hard look at what we were going to spend our money on, in terms of sewer infrastructure. And we as a community are just now beginning to get caught up on our infrastructure needs,” Roats said. “I think this shows the city of Bend has learned through the years how to manage big, complex, technical projects. I think this is an omen of good things to come for the city.”

According to the city, almost $18,000 in energy costs will be saved a year by removing the pump stations.