Two recent water line breaks on South Curtis Avenue resulted in customers without water and a boil order after water service was restored.
There was a water line break on Arkansas Highway 94 (South Curtis Avenue) on Jan. 3 that resulted in no service for water customers south of Cardin Road to the north side of Sugar Creek.
The second break was near Henry Little Circle on Ark. Hwy. 94 (South Curtis Avenue) on Tuesday, Jan. 16. Once water service was restored, a precautionary boil order was imposed. It was lifted by Thursday, Jan. 18, after two water samples were tested by the Arkansas Department of Health.
Despite the extremely cold temperatures that affected the way the break was repaired, the freezing temperatures were not the cause of the break.
"To me, it's more the age. Lines move," said Ken Hayes, Water Department superintendent, explaining that the line, which is extremely old, is an 8-inch cast iron line buried six feet deep. "The age of the line ... the cold wasn't a factor as deep as that line is."
"Mike (Nida) and I have been here 19 years and we haven't had a problem with that line until about a year and a half ago," Hayes said. There have been four water line breaks in the past year and a half.
The water line breaks required Pea Ridge Water Utilities employees to work through the night and in sub-freezing temperatures.
Hayes said about 250 to 300 homes were involved in the loss of service and ensuing boil order with the last break on Jan. 16.
"It went really smooth as far as the boil order and everything," Hayes said. "The thing that hurt us the most on all that was that it was so cold. We probably could have still worked it 'hot' but it was unsafe as cold as it was ... We were in temperatures that were not safe!"
"It freezes up pumps ... and obviously you don't want your guys to get wet!" Hayes said.
On the first line break, Hayes said they were able to "choke that line down" and able to handle it. Although the employees got cold, it was not dangerous. "It was a real pan, but it was workable."
With the most recent break, even with a heater, new pumps and a tarp put up to block the wind, it was still the "worst case scenario" with single-digit temperatures.
Hayes said once the break was uncovered, water was shooting 15 feet in the air and necessitated shutting down the line.
"The problem we have with that line is there are no valves on that line," Hayes said. The line comes from Brush Creek. He said on a big transmission line like that put in now would have a valve every 1,000 feet and, if it goes through a subdivision, a valve added for about every 25 homes.
"Once you get past that number, the equation that determines boil order or no boil order, is affected. The fact that we have a line that has no valves in all that area, makes it a big problem," Hayes said.
Adding valves to an old line is very expensive but he said he is exploring options.