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PITTSBURG —
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. On Wednesday, Pittsburg Public Utilities officials held meetings for residents who live near N. Michigan Street and in the Turner addition, in the northeast quadrant of the city. Wednesday’s meeting was sparsely attended, but that likely is due to the neighborhood canvassing job Public Utilities Director John Bailey and his staff had done in the weeks beforehand. Bailey said a similar meeting held on Tuesday had more guests.
Many of the water lines are 100 years old, Bailey said, adding that Pittsburg still has several fire hydrants with manufacture dates of 1898.
“It just shows you that in times past people knew what they were doing,” Bailey said.
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.”
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 last month, 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.”
Bailey’s crews are starting in the northeast quadrant because it has the oldest and smallest pipes. Phase one begins on N. Michigan Street, where workers will:
• Replace existing eight inch cast-iron pipes with 12-inch C900 plastic pipe
• Tie into the existing 12-inch water main at 31st Street and into the existing main at 25th Street
• Add eight new fire hydrants, spaced 400 feet apart and tapped into the new plastic pipe
Phase two of the project is the Turner addition, where crews will:
• Replace the existing two- and four-inch transite line with eight-inch C900 plastic pipe along Turner Court, down Turner Drive and back around Turner Place
• Add five new hydrants, tapped into the new eight-inch line
• Connect it to the 12-inch Michigan line and the six-inch line along Lisa Road
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. On Wednesday, Pittsburg Public Utilities officials held meetings for residents who live near N. Michigan Street and in the Turner addition, in the northeast quadrant of the city. Wednesday’s meeting was sparsely attended, but that likely is due to the neighborhood canvassing job Public Utilities Director John Bailey and his staff had done in the weeks beforehand. Bailey said a similar meeting held on Tuesday had more guests.
Many of the water lines are 100 years old, Bailey said, adding that Pittsburg still has several fire hydrants with manufacture dates of 1898.
“It just shows you that in times past people knew what they were doing,” Bailey said.
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.”
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 last month, 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.”
Bailey’s crews are starting in the northeast quadrant because it has the oldest and smallest pipes. Phase one begins on N. Michigan Street, where workers will:
• Replace existing eight inch cast-iron pipes with 12-inch C900 plastic pipe
• Tie into the existing 12-inch water main at 31st Street and into the existing main at 25th Street
• Add eight new fire hydrants, spaced 400 feet apart and tapped into the new plastic pipe
Phase two of the project is the Turner addition, where crews will:
• Replace the existing two- and four-inch transite line with eight-inch C900 plastic pipe along Turner Court, down Turner Drive and back around Turner Place
• Add five new hydrants, tapped into the new eight-inch line
• Connect it to the 12-inch Michigan line and the six-inch line along Lisa Road
