Cocoa commits $250,000 to manhole rehabilitation programme
City of Cocoa Utilities, Florida · Meeting date: October 27, 2026 · Published: October 28, 2026
City Council approved a $249,950 Vortex Services package for sanitary sewer manhole rehabilitation, funded through a transfer from Water and Sewer Utility Fund contingency. The work will use geopolymer lining to address critical defects identified through Cocoa’s systemwide manhole assessment.
Key points
- Council approved $249,950 for Vortex Services under the HGACBuy cooperative purchasing contract TP07-25, effective through June 30, 2029.
- The package includes 521.5 vertical feet of one-inch geopolymer lining in standard four-foot-diameter manholes, plus $62,925 in as-needed work items.
- Funding is being transferred from the Water and Sewer Utility Fund contingency account to the infrastructure project WS19MH.
- Cocoa’s assessment programme inspected about 1,900 sanitary sewer manholes using NASSCO’s MACP coding process.
Full report
Cocoa City Council has approved a $249,950 programme of sanitary sewer manhole rehabilitation by Vortex Services, advancing an annual effort to repair critical structures and reduce groundwater infiltration into the wastewater network.
The October 27 approval covers Vortex’s FY2027 proposal through the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s cooperative purchasing contract TP07-25, which runs from July 2025 through June 2029. Council also approved a FY2027 budget amendment to fund the work.
The base scope is priced at $187,025 and includes $4,500 for Florida mobilisation and 521.5 vertical feet of one-inch geopolymer lining in standard four-foot-diameter manholes, at $350 per vertical foot. A further $62,925 has been included for work to be used as needed: chemical-grout infiltration control, reconstruction of benches and inverts, replacement of manhole frames and covers in grassed areas, single-lane closures and flagging.
The city will transfer the $249,950 from the Water and Sewer Utility Fund contingency account to the infrastructure account for project WS19MH. The transfer moves funds from Fund 421, Water/Sewer, to Fund 424, with the expenditure allocated to infrastructure.
Cocoa’s utilities department, Carollo Engineers and RedZone Robotics completed a comprehensive manhole assessment programme in FY2019. The work captured and reviewed CCTV data for about 1,900 sanitary sewer manholes using the National Association of Sewer Service Companies’ Manhole Assessment and Certification Program coding standard. Carollo subsequently reviewed conditions and developed a programme for annual rehabilitation and replacement.
Staff said priority manholes were selected according to defect severity, the potential for deterioration, failure consequences and location. The city expects interior coating to provide structural repair while reducing infiltration, thereby avoiding the cost of treating groundwater at the sewer treatment plant and extending manhole life. Severely corroded frames and covers may also be replaced to improve structural integrity and safety.
The geopolymer application is expected to take about four hours per manhole and, according to staff, will not affect sanitary sewer operations. Replacement of frames and covers is likewise expected to have no operational impact.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: City Council Meeting, City of Cocoa Utilities