The City of Estevan is replacing a water main in the northwest corner of the city, but it doesn鈥檛 mean the water main replacement program is resuming.
The affected water main is on Dieppe Crescent between Dyer Road and Cardinal Avenue. Kevin Sutter, who is the manager of the city鈥檚 water and wastewater division, said the water main is made of cast iron and has been prone to breaks. The most notable issue came in January.
鈥淟ast winter we had a break there that we had to repair, but the condition of the water main caused the break to reoccur several times, and it was in the winter time and it was very hard to control and get the leak mended,鈥� said Sutter.
There have been a number of water main breaks in the area since 2004, he said.
Most of Dieppe Crescent has the new PVC pipe for its water mains, but this portion of the road did not.聽The affected area includes eight houses over 115 metres. The affected residents have access to temporary water.
The estimated cost is $160,000, which includes asphalt and concrete restoration. A sidewalk will also be added. It is not being billed as a local improvement for the ratepayers, since Sutter described it as an emergency replacement.
Due to the timing of the breaks, the project was approved by council after budget deliberations, but Sutter said it was included in the city鈥檚 financial plan.
He is confident the bulk of the water main replacement can be completed with city employees on regular hours.
鈥淲ith city employees, we can do it for a little less money than if we were to contract it out,鈥� said Sutter.
The replacement will take about three weeks.
Sutter noted that while this project is not being billed as a local improvement due to the condition of the water main, homeowners are paying to have services, such as sewer services, replaced so that crews would not have to re-enter the area in the event of future breaks or a plugged sewer.
鈥淚t should be a complete job, and we shouldn鈥檛 have to revisit the area for some time to come,鈥� said Sutter.
Sutter noted the city wants to resume the water main replacement program, so they can replace all of the cast iron water mains. The program started in 2004 and resulted in new water mains for many areas of the city, but the program was discontinued a few years ago due to costs.
鈥淲e have to do it when finances are available, and when the need arises,鈥� said Sutter. 鈥淭he need arose for this area because we didn鈥檛 want to be trying to repair this in the middle of winter again.鈥�
No other water main replacements are planned for this year.
