May 06, 2008 10:51 pm
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By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
WEBB CITY, Mo. — Webb City officials hope to have a plan for repairing a broken waterline ready for the next City Council work session on May 19.
“Our hope is to get it done as soon as possible,” Steve Garrett, city administrator, said Tuesday. “We want to put the line in a safer position.”
The council held a work session Monday night.
The 8-inch waterline was broken recently during cleanup of the former mining field west of Carterville. The waterline, which ran through 75 acres of land the Environmental Protection Agency is rehabilitating, serves as a backup to Carterville’s water supply.
Coming up with emergency funding to complete the repair may be the most difficult task, Garrett said. He initially estimated the repairs could cost the city $100,000.
“That’s the number we have to work off of,” he said. “I’m pretty sure if it gets above that number, people are going to get squeamish. I’m hoping it will be that or below.”
Garrett said that while the line break was not planned, the city probably was going to have to replace it once the EPA work is completed.
“When the line was put in in the 1920s, it probably was a good decision to run it through the chat piles,” he said. “But now, in 2008, it turns out that’s not going to work for us. We’re going to have to do something different.”
Mark Doolan, project manager for the EPA, said he did not believe the agency’s contractor, Snyder Construction Co., should be responsible for replacing the line.
The design plan showed an easement for a waterline, so the contractor called Webb City to locate the line. Doolan said workers marked off what they though was the site of the line, but the contractor was skeptical. He said city workers returned at the contractor’s request and again identified the same location for the line.
“We appreciate them getting on it, because it’s a concern of ours,” Carterville Mayor Dale Davenport said Tuesday. “If our well goes down, we’ll be in trouble.”
Davenport said the town has a population of about 2,000 and also provides water to rural residents.
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