Humboldt increasing watermain repairs in 2023

An adjacent project, on 12th Street, is also getting pushed up to 2023. The total cost of that is estimated at $120,000.

In order to keep spending within budget, council approved delaying a project on Fourth Avenue until next year, along with several other smaller projects.

“Essentially what we’re asking here is to shift around a few of the projects over the next three years,” Bergquist told council. “Just [so] we could focus more on watermains this year and not have to deal with untimely repairs that are quite inconvenient in the middle of winter.”

“It’s just a matter of doing more in 2023 with watermains, and then doing more roadway projects in 2024,” he added.

While the city has had seven watermain breaks since Christmas, Bergquist said overall the number of breaks is fairly average.

“So if you excluded that one (Third Avenue), it’s fairly normal at this point,” Bergquist said. He added temperature could be a factor in pipe breaks, but corrosion is usually the number one problem.

“Temperature is a factor when it comes to how deep the frost goes,” he said. “So in areas that may have soils that perhaps hold onto moisture, it can move the ground a bit, it can have an effect of moving the pipes enough to create a crack or have a failure. But most of the time, it’s corrosion.”

He added the city has been working on replacing aging watermains for roughly a decade – which helps keep the number of breaks fairly low.

“We’re staying fairly stable with breaks, just because we have been actively replacing a lot of water mains over the last five to 10 years. So we’re targeting the problematic ones,” he said.

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doug.lett@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @DougLettSK

by Doug Lett

Humboldt increasing watermain repairs in 2023

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