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PITTSBURG —
The City of Pittsburg is about to get new plumbing. The city is gearing up to replace water lines for the entire city a project that will take at least five years and cost at least $250,000 annually.
Many of the water lines are 100 years old, said Public Utilities Director John Bailey.
“As a consequence, we have a large number of water line breaks, especially during the summer when it's hot and there are a lot of demands placed on the distribution system,” Bailey said. “This is a multi-year, proactive project by the city to start replacing some of the lines that have inadequate firefighting capabilities, rusty water, and/or large numbers of breaks.”
There several types of pipe the city will remove. They include combinate ductile iron, which is mixed with graphite and is more flexible and elastic than regular iron; standard cast iron; galvanized iron, which is coated in zinc; PVC; and transite, a concrete-like material. They will be replaced with heavy wall-thickness PVC and high density polyethylene pipes.
“These materials have an extremely long lifetime,” Bailey said. “We’re not sure how long they’ll last because they don’t have to be replaced very often.”
Funding for the project comes from the Department of Public Utilities operating budget and will take at least five years to complete.
“It’s probably closer to 10,” Bailey said, adding that city officials will soon begin scheduling meetings with residents and trying to pinpoint where pipes are placed near their homes.
To lay the new pipes, Bailey’s crews will use a process called directional boring, in which they will drill horizontally under streets, driveways and yards, then pull the pipe through.
“That’s so it doesn’t disrupt the surface,” Bailey said, adding that he hopes work will begin around August. “We will have to dig to make the connection from the home to the pipe, but other than that we hope there won’t be much disruption.”
Work will begin in the northeast quadrant of the city, in the vicinity of the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas and the Crawford County Health Department headquarters, Bailey said.
The City of Pittsburg is about to get new plumbing. The city is gearing up to replace water lines for the entire city a project that will take at least five years and cost at least $250,000 annually.
Many of the water lines are 100 years old, said Public Utilities Director John Bailey.
“As a consequence, we have a large number of water line breaks, especially during the summer when it's hot and there are a lot of demands placed on the distribution system,” Bailey said. “This is a multi-year, proactive project by the city to start replacing some of the lines that have inadequate firefighting capabilities, rusty water, and/or large numbers of breaks.”
There several types of pipe the city will remove. They include combinate ductile iron, which is mixed with graphite and is more flexible and elastic than regular iron; standard cast iron; galvanized iron, which is coated in zinc; PVC; and transite, a concrete-like material. They will be replaced with heavy wall-thickness PVC and high density polyethylene pipes.
“These materials have an extremely long lifetime,” Bailey said. “We’re not sure how long they’ll last because they don’t have to be replaced very often.”
Funding for the project comes from the Department of Public Utilities operating budget and will take at least five years to complete.
“It’s probably closer to 10,” Bailey said, adding that city officials will soon begin scheduling meetings with residents and trying to pinpoint where pipes are placed near their homes.
To lay the new pipes, Bailey’s crews will use a process called directional boring, in which they will drill horizontally under streets, driveways and yards, then pull the pipe through.
“That’s so it doesn’t disrupt the surface,” Bailey said, adding that he hopes work will begin around August. “We will have to dig to make the connection from the home to the pipe, but other than that we hope there won’t be much disruption.”
Work will begin in the northeast quadrant of the city, in the vicinity of the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas and the Crawford County Health Department headquarters, Bailey said.
