Fixing leaks

With the recent leak on the town’s waterline running from Yellowstone Avenue north through the Ellis Mobile Home Park, Public Works Director Cory Allison speaks about why the line is still breaking and what the town is planning to do.

Allison says that approximately 80% of the municipal water lines are replaced at this time with several small areas – “Just 100 feet here, 200 feet here, a block there” – have yet to be upgraded. This particular part of the line is among those sections.

These small sections of line to be replaced, according to Allison, are cost prohibitive to contractors to replace as a whole so the town plans to add one or two to upcoming upgrades, thus completing the water lines within the next couple of years, depending on state funding.

This small section of yet-to-be improved line will be added to the Powder River Water Project, the funds for which the town will be approaching Wyoming State Lands and Investments Board (SLIB) to request in June.

“I’m not positive we’ll get it this year, but we’re going to try,” he says. Allison says that after the Powder River Project is complete, “the entire major [water lines] are done”.

This is the first break at this location, Allison notes, costing under $2000 due to keeping labor in house, and when the contractor was replacing the sewer pipes along Powder River two years ago, the crews immediately fixed two leaks on that line, mitigating cost again.

However, this number of leaks within the last couple of years is considered excessive and is simply due to the existing line being “at the end of its life”.

Allison explained that Moorcroft had been using water lines installed around 50-60 years ago before council began upgrading the infrastructure during the last decade. “We have a master-plan to replace the entire asbestos pipe in town with PVC,” he says.

This 80% of lines replaced does not include sewer as sewer pipe is not pressurized and does not incur the same type of leakage, so the need to replace it is not as crucial. With that said, Allison explained that sewer lines are prey to damage and blockage from roots, hence the sewer replacement along Powder River Avenue.