The water line break along Division St. last month not only cost the City of Guthrie millions of gallons of water, but also thousands of dollars.
On Tuesday night’s city council meeting, the council voted unanimously to seek a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to help replace the main water line on Division St. from the Water Treatment Plant to Harrison Ave.
With cold conditions and old water lines, the 12 inch main water line broke on Feb. 18 causing between two and 2.5 million gallons of treated water to run down the street (1,750 gallons per minute). The estimated cost of the loss water ranges up to an estimated $14,000. The costs do not include overtime hours for city employees to repair the line. Related article: Video: Water line breaks, sending water down Division St.
A similar break to the same line happened back in 2017.
The proposed grant would also help replace the shut off valves, which are no longer functionable in the area. The City was forced to shut the water plant completely down to lower the flow of water so that the street crew to make repairs. The shut down also halted water to citizens and businesses for several hours.
With the age, size, and location, City Manager Leroy Alsup said it’s time to change the line out completely.
“It seemed more prudent to replace the full length of the line from the water plant to Harrison Ave in lieu of breaking it up into two or more projects,” the manager told council members.
The line in question was installed in the 1920’s. In fact, 55 miles of City water lines was installed before 1975 not including the water line that runs to Langston and Coyle.
Since 1995, only 2.5 miles of main water lines have been replaced by the City.
“The water is safe to drink, but many of these water mains has substantial sediment build up of minerals that when stirred up from leaks can create odor and taste issues, but again its safe to drink,” Alsup said.
Guthrie News Page first shared the gross photos of mineral residue inside a water line back in 2018. Related article: Mineral residue piling up on City’s 100-year-old water lines
“We cannot keep kicking the can down the road forever,” Alsup said. “We need to explore more long time solutions which equates to funding solutions.”
The cost of the project is estimated at $885,649 with hopes of landed the highly competitive grant, which would fund 34% of the project ($299,999). City officials are hopeful the remaining 66% of the local cost can come from the American Rescue Plan.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved The American Rescue Plan (ARP), which includes over $65 billion of aid directly to municipal governments. The City of Guthrie is anticipating $1.8M of aid coming there way.
If the ARP is unavailable, Alsup says the City could look at using a portion of the Guthrie Public Works Authority (GPWA) fund balance, which holds approximately $1.7M and/or using some of the City’s operating budget for funding.
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