Drought affects even city water lines

Mains cracking as dry ground shifts

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

By JOHN R. PULLIAM

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - Monday morning's water main break near Ferris and Seminary streets is part of a growing trend officials here have seen this summer. Shifting ground due to the drought is being blamed for about 50 to 60 breaks in the past two months.

Kris Hatfield, the city's water superintendent, said 50 to 60 water main breaks is typical for an entire year. Exactly why the drought is having this effect on the ground's stability is not known, Hatfield said, but it is similar to the freeze-and-thaw cycle that occurs at the end of winter. As the ground shifts, the pipes, many of them 100 years old, crack.

Hatfield said there were six water main breaks last week alone "and we're starting the week off with one right away." He said there were 30 breaks last month.

The pipes are made of cast iron or asbestos-concrete mixture, Hatfield said.

Monday's break was in the middle of the 300 block of East Ferris streets and was discovered at about 5 a.m. Monday. By about 10 a.m., water division employees thought the break was repaired after they wrapped a stainless steel clamp around the crack in the pipe. Water was expected to be back on by 10:30 to 10:45 a.m.

But about 10:30 a.m., Hatfield said further work was needed.

"The clamp did not hold," he said. "We're going to have to cut out a section and put in a new section of main."

By about 11 a.m., one city employee was using a backhoe to dig a deeper hole so the new section of pipe could be put in. An employee on the scene said the hole would have to be about four feet deep. He was unsure how long of a section of new pipe was needed. A dump truck was nearby to carry away the dirt and tree roots. A small portion of the westbound lane of Ferris Street was closed while the work was being done. Hatfield revised his estimate of when water service would be restored to about 1 to 2 p.m.

Innkeeper's Fresh Roasted Coffee, 80 N. Seminary St.; the Galesburg Foot Clinic, 347 E. Ferris St.; and Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 360 E. Ferris St., were affected by the water main break, but Innkeeper's took an especially hard hit.

Mike Bond, a co-owner of Innkeeper's, said the business closed for the day at about 10:15 a.m. Monday and was not expected to reopen until 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

"It's an enormous loss," Bond said. "It's not good."

Meanwhile, the Foot Clinic was able to weather the storm.

"We're open, we're managing," said Susan Hayes, the clinic's office manager. "I got here at about 7:20 and there was a note on the door that the water was out. So I called one of our doctors and he brought some gallon jugs of water from home."

An effort to contact the church was unsuccessful. However, a phone recording listed only Sunday services and Wednesday Bible study.

Hatfield said of Monday's water main break, "We probably lost about 100,000 gallons. It's always guesswork."

The break was not considered major, as smaller amounts of water are lost when there is a cracked pipe, as compared to when an entire pipe ruptures.

"It's been pretty much unbelievable," Hatfield said of the path of destruction the drought is plowing through pipes that carry water throughout the city. "It's really odd."

Once the water main is repaired, the line in the affected area is flushed, a sample is taken and checked for bacteria.

"Everybody will have water, it's just a precaution," Hatfield said, adding there also will be a 24-hour boil order as part of the routine precautions taken when there is a water main break.