Flowing again in Fredonia
by MICHAEL RUKAVINAArticle Photos
The elusive water line break near the Canadaway Creek bridge on Water Street in the village of Fredonia has been repaired.
Fredonia Department of Public Works crews worked throughout the night Wednesday into Thursday morning with the help of county employees to dig down nearly 20 feet before reaching the suspected break on the creekbed on the south side of the bridge.
"We have an 18-inch gash in this pipe just outside the creek bed and just inches away from our wastewater lines down there," Fredonia Mayor Michael Sullivan said Thursday afternoon.
The repair was made around 2 p.m. and all water lines were flowing by 3 p.m., according to Fredonia DPW Superintendent Jack Boland.
"Everyone should have water," Boland said. "The repair took place around 2 p.m. and the water was turned loose around 3 p.m. It takes some time to build it all up. We put a cap/sleeve at the end of the main."
Sullivan said the village will come back to the break at some point this summer and actually install a valve, essentially abandoning the original line. Being it was one of three supply lines, there will now only be two lines coming across the creek with one serving south of the creek.
No water on Water Street?
For a majority of the morning Thursday and until crews made the repair and turned the valves back on the business district on Water Street and the residential areas north of the bridge were without water. Prior to the press conference held in front of the bridge Thursday afternoon, one business owner shared her concerns with Sullivan regarding the notification process and loss of business from the break.
"If we have work that is going to be scheduled and we know on a Friday we'll be doing something we're at the point where we have some door hangers that tell people, and if it's short notice and they're working on a leak they do have a tendency to knock on doors to let people know," Sullivan said. "In this case, quite frankly there was not time ... we were basically shutting valves down trying to find the right one and to be able to know who to notify when a valve is being shut down was almost impossible. Unfortunately, until the one business owner came down we really didn't know we had part of Water Street without water."
As of 11 a.m. Thursday, Cliffstar said operation has not been slowed by the break.
"We have low pressure but it's not really affecting anything," one employee said. "This is actually a low-production day so it's not really hurting anything."
The break
There was a slow water leak on the corner of Liberty and Water streets that occurred over this past weekend. It had been leaking for a few days, but it was minor so crews waited until the weekday to fix it. As they were fixing it they had to shut off some lines to drop the water pressure. While those lines were being shut down, the direction and pressure of water on the pipes changed and the pipe near the creek bed ruptured.
After valves were turned, crews observed water beginning to leak near a manhole in the Copy Boy parking lot, a leak that was not caused by the original leak near Liberty Street. They then knew they had another problem.
"Crews worked for several hours trying to isolate the water connections and they did not have much success," Sullivan said. "At one point we didn't think we were every going to be able to turn the water off."
Sullivan said contractors were being called in case extensive work was required to cap both ends of the line while the water continued to flow. Fortunately for the village the $25,000-$48,000 estimated cost for the job was avoided. The Dunkirk DPW notified the village that a crew would have been available if needed for the repair once the water was turned off and the county did provide a crew to operate a 10-inch pump and the excavator used to dig the hole.
"Fortunately we did not have to take the assistance from Dunkirk. Our crews that were on the scene, some on to their 30th hour, but right now it's one of those things where we started this project, we're going to finish it," Sullivan said. "They're taking a lot of pride right now in getting it done. We suggested if they wanted to go home they could go home and we'd bring in the Dunkirk offer, but right now they want to get it done because it's theirs to do."
Boil notice
The boil notice will remain in affect until further notice. According to Sullivan and Chautauqua County Director of Environmental Health Mark Stow, the earliest the boil order will be lifted will be sometime Saturday.
"Everyone that is served in the village of Fredonia water system, whether you're in the district or in the village, we have a boil order in effect and it will be at a minimum until late on Saturday," Sullivan said.
"We have to get two rounds of negative samples before we can officially lift the water ban," Stow added.
For those who may have consumed water Wednesday into Thursday before knowing about the boil order, you should not be concerned.
"I would say no. We don't have any confirmed samples that indicated any type of bacteria in the water supply," Stow said. "It's one of those things where you have a break and the potential exists to have some of that be sucked into the system so we err on the side of caution there."
One news channel announced water should be boiled first before being used to bathe in. This is not the case, Stow said.
"People do not have to boil water to take a shower. The key thing to note though is teeth brushing," he said. "Obviously people will go swimming in the lake and the ponds and those are loaded with hundreds of E. Coli and there's not a problem, so taking a shower won't be a problem - just be careful not to ingest any into your system. People should actually boil the water to brush their teeth and not use it out of the tap though."
A few Culligan customers came in to the Fredonia store Thursday specifically to purchase water because of the break, one employee said.
Comments on this article may be sent to mrukavina@observertoday.com
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Soxaphone
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07-10-09 6:19 PM
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30 hours is a long, long shift
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raisingyankeefans
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07-10-09 10:47 AM
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Way to go, Fredonia DPW, for fixing this problem so quickly! I know you worked long hours on this problem and I appreciate it!
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