Sanitary sewers carry wastewater from homes and businesses to the two wastewater treatment plants that are owned and operated by the City of Bardstown.   Sanitary sewers were first built in Bardstown around 1930.  They were made of sections of clay tile, which was sealed with mortar.  The lines, which all flow downhill, are interrupted at regular intervals with manholes, in order to gain access to the lines for cleaning and inspection.  These manholes were originally made of brick, again sealed with cement mortar. 

In the mid 1950’s, the city started to grow into areas that did not flow directly downhill to the sewer treatment plant. This required the building of pumping stations and “force mains” to move sewage uphill to get to “gravity” sewer pipes and eventually on to the treatment plant.

The city has grown tremendously in recent years.  The system now has 131 miles of gravity sewer lines, 24.3 miles of force mains, and 2,614 manholes.  The system currently serves a population of 14,785.

Next >

Example of clay sewer pipe

Men work on placing clay sewer pipes