Preliminary work is underway by engineers on the proposed 20-inch diameter new water main in the Bradford area.
On Monday, Bradford City Water Authority Executive Director Steve Disney gave an update on the proposed project, which would be nearly 6.5 miles of redundant water transmission main with functioning shut-off valves. He said it could be bid as early as the end of 2019.
Since July, survey crews from the authority engineer, Bankson Engineering, have been busy performing field surveying and preliminary engineering work all along the proposed route.
Disney explained, “The survey crews have the very tedious job of locating and plotting all existing utilities, obtaining accurate topographic elevations, researching easements and rights-of-way and recording measurements all along the proposed route.”
He said the data collected has been sent to Bankson offices for “further review, engineering and research to plan the best route for the new main.”
Disney explained the need for a redundant main.
Currently, a single 24-inch diameter cast iron water line exists from the water treatment plant on West Corydon Street to a connection with a 20-inch diameter water main located on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, a distance of over 4.5 miles. The 24-inch diameter water main was installed in 1955 using cast iron pipe furnished with 20-foot-long, plain end joints, with bolted couplings at each joint. A site excavation in January 2017 revealed the carbon steel bolts on some of the couplings are corroding, which is resulting in leaks at the couplings. Three, 24-inch diameter horizontal gate valves exist along the route of the 24-inch diameter pipeline. Independent inspection and analysis of the existing valves has shown these valves to be inoperable.
However, the time that the current water transmission main and water treatment plant would be offline to make the repairs to these valves would be more than 48 hours. Neither the authority nor the community could tolerate such a long outage, Disney said.
The balance of the existing water transmission main that extends from the end of the 24-inch diameter water main to Reservoir Number 4, consists of 20-inch and 14-inch diameter cast iron water mains that were installed between the years of 1893 and 1939, he said. The need for a redundant water transmission main with functioning shutoff valves is apparent. This new proposed 20-inch diameter water transmission main will fulfill that need.
Disney said the project would be divided into two parts, to allow the project to be installed in two phases. The tentative route starting at the water treatment plant would be down West Corydon Street, across Crooker House Lane, continuing along Lang Maid Lane, down West Washington Street to Poplin Avenue, and then along a water line right-of-way to Brook Street and finally across Interstate Parkway, Abbott Street and Prospect Street, connecting into the existing finished water Reservoir Number 4.
Disney stated, “The authority plans to provide water service to all properties along the new proposed route that currently don’t have public water service. As soon as the new 20-inch transmission main is operational, our focus would then shift to a full rehabilitation of the current 24-inch transmission supply main.”
This work currently being done is preliminary, to determine the feasibility of the project, he added.
“Once the field surveying and engineering have been completed, in order for the new 20-inch transmission main project to come to fruition, we must confirm that the project is feasible financially,” Disney said.
“First, the authority plans to apply for grants and loans through PENNVEST in order to fund both projects,” he said. “Cost for the new 20-inch transmission main is expected to be at least $8.5 million dollars, and projected cost for the rehabilitation of the existing 24-inch transmission main would add at least another $8 million dollars.”
To fund these projects the authority would be applying for any and all applicable grant opportunities available, but if water supply rates were needed to be used exclusively as the sole means of funding these projects, rates would need to increase by approximately $1.30 per 1,000 gallons, Disney said.
This would take the current rate from $2.70/1,000 gals to $4/1,000 gallons. The average household uses around 5,000 gallons per month, so this total increase would raise the average household bill by approximately $6.50 per month. These rate increases would be phased in over a 3-year period, he said.
Disney explained, “The next steps in the process will be to have Bankson Engineers spend the next several weeks fine tuning and developing the final water main drawings and specifications. Once those are complete, then the process of applying for (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) and (Department of Environmental Protection) permits can take place. The permitting process takes up to 6-months. Once permits are secured funding can then be acquired.”
He continued, “If all things fall into place, this project could be placed out for bid in late 2019.
“Once we have both the new 20-inch transmission main operational and the existing 24-inch rehabilitated, then we will truly have the redundancy our system needs,” Disney said. “No one wants to ever have to go through what our community experienced in February of 2015 when a catastrophic break to the 24-inch transmission main caused the area to be without water for five days.”
