Engineer Rick Meyer told the Mandeville City Council Thursday night it would cost in the neighborhood of $3.2 million to fix problems with the city’s sewer system that have resulted in repeated back ups at businesses in the area near North Causeway and Louisiana Highway 22.

Public Works Director David deGeneres said something has to be done soon. He said in the last two years his workers have been called out to the area to fix problems with the sewer system more than 50 times, and the problems have only increased in the last six months.

Meyer said restaurants like George’s, Fazzio’s and the Empire Buffet along the North Causeway Boulevard regularly call the city to report their sinks and toilets are backing up. Many have installed their own pumps to help alleviate the problem, but Meyer said the problem is not with the businesses. It’s with a system that is not equipped to handle the number of businesses it is currently serving, he said. The problem, Meyer said, is inadequate force mains and lift stations, which are unable to handle the amount of pressure the businesses are producing.

The system, he said, was constructed in the 1980s and 1990s when much of this area was undeveloped.

Meyer said the problem is only going to get worse when the city takes on the businesses in the “pie shaped” area bonded by U.S. Highway 190, Asbury Drive and North Causeway, which are currently being served by their own systems.

DeGeneres said the answer to the problem is to go from 6-inch to 12-inch force mains and to switch to a gravity system.

Because of the price tag, Meyer and deGeneres have split the project up into four phases.

Phase one includes a new $350,000 lift station at St. Ann Street and $60,000 in improvements to another lift station. It is also 2,300 linear feet of gravity main and 3,000 linear feet of force main in the area of Brookside Street and U.S. 190.

The total cost for phase one, which also includes the property acquisition needed for the new lift station, would be $2 million.

Phase two includes a $40,000 upgrade to another lift station and 1,500 linear feet of gravity line between Brookside Street and Bayou Chinchuba. The total cost for this phase of the project is $566,000.

Phase three includes $100,000 in improvements to an existing lift station, increasing its capacity, and 1,400 linear feet of force main.

The projected cost for this phase is $453,700.

The final phase includes a new Orenco Tank System to be installed at Lovers Lane to collect sewerage from Benedict’s Plantation and two other office buildings in that area. The total for this phase of the project is $235,400.

Finance Director Milton Stiebing said this project is not included in the city’s five-year capital improvements budget and the funding would have to come out of the city’s special fund dedicated to water, sewer and drainage improvements.

After hearing the presentation and proposal by Meyer and deGeneres, Mayor Pro Tem Trilby Lenfant said she was not prepared to make a decision on the issue and was unsure when the council would be prepared to approve any kind of task order for the project.