PIPESTONE, MB: UTILITIES MANAGER CONFIRMS CRACKED VALVE REASON FOR MB BWA
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A Boil Water Advisory is still in effect for some residents of the Rural Municipality of Pipestone, Manitoba due to some construction needed to repair a cracked valve.
The Rural Municipality of Pipestone, located in South Western Manitoba, alerted the authorities at Prairie Mountain Health this past Monday when they realized that the construction they needed to do stood a risk of contaminating the water supply. According to Tyson Anderson, Manager of Utilities for the Rural Municipality of Pipestone, the advisory is affecting two or three businesses and 31 homes.
"We located the leak and started digging," Anderson said," and we found that a six inch main valve was cracked." He informed us that as soon as you have to have to isolate a line with gate valves, usually there are three or four valves you have to shut down. Since some of the system they were working on was old, and some of the valves don't close anymore, they decided it was best to call the local drinking water officer.
"If someone has something hooked up that they shouldn't," Anderson said, "It could easily contaminate the line."
For precautionary reasons, municipal officials passed out paperwork to everyone living and working in the affected area.
Anderson explained that they have replaced an inch and half saddle which was old along with some copper lines. They then proceeded to super-chlorinate the line after which they opened up a valve on a fire hydrant with the intent of re-pressurizing the line and flushing it to get the line clean again.
The water is back on now, however officials are waiting for tests taken 24 hours apart that have been sent to a lab in Winnipeg for the all clear.
Anderson believes the advisory could be rescinded as soon as Friday afternoon, however with it being so close to the weekend, it is more likely to be called off early next week.
In 2014 the Rural Municipality of Pipestone was allotted $1.85 million for the expansion of the rural pipeline within the municipality as part of a $12 million municipal water initiative in Western Manitoba.
Anderson confirmed that they are on phase four of the project at the moment and hope to get another 40 to 50 homes hooked up in the near future.