Mayor Redmon declares state of emergency
The boil water advisory for properties in area of S. Carpenter Road and OK Mill Road concluded around Feb. 25.
SNOHOMISH — Additional leak spots discovered along a water transmission line serving about 75 properties in the Machias area prolonged a boil water advisory for residents and businesses that began Jan. 30.
The latest break was discovered Feb. 6. A replacement pipe coupler to fix it was expected to arrive late last week.
The water is not contaminated, however more tests and line flushes are needed for authorities to confidently declare the drinking water safe.
Public works crews have been working exhaustive hours for the past two weeks. Since the initial break on Jan. 29, crews discovered two more leaks the days after, city public works director Nova Heaton said Feb. 7.
The 14.7-mile water transmission line outside the city has the affected properties directly tapped into it.
The line was built in 1981. Its purpose was to carry Pilchuck River water when the river used to be most of the city’s drinking water source.
Two failures happened at the line's couplers, Heaton said.
The city is tabulating the bill for emergency repairs, city administrator Heather Thomas said.
On Thursday, Feb. 9, Mayor Linda Redmon declared a state of emergency for Snohomish over the water main breaks. Redmon made the line top priority for all departments within the city. The declaration removes almost all procedural red tape to allow to expedite permitting, contractor bidding and make expenditures toward the transmission line.
Fixing the whole line would cost millions. In 2009, a consultant's study pegged the main's replacement cost at $18 million; adjusting for inflation, that's almost $25 million.
The line is in year 41 of what an engineering firm estimates is a 50-year lifespan. Fifty years may be generous with breaks occurring now that were not seen before.
Its first 6.2 miles is made of asbestos cement pipe until around where the line intersects with Creswell Road. The second 8.3 miles are made of Permastran (fiberglass/PVC composite) pipe.
Working on asbestos cement pipe requires specialized crews.
Heaton described Feb. 7 that this section has already reached the end of its lifespan. The city is developing a larger plan to either abandon or replace the asbestos cement section.
The workplace also could include the “installation of pressure stations for better monitoring” and the “addition and repair of valves for improved control and ability to isolate” problems on the line, Heaton outlined at the Feb. 7 City Council meeting.
The line has four pressure-reducing valves, but two are currently inoperable, the city confirmed.
The Jan. 29 leak was near Newberg Road and OK Mill Road. The second leak was identified Jan. 30 about three miles away near S. Carpenter Road in the asbestos cement section. The latest break was along Robe Menzel Road in Granite Falls near the start of the pipe.
Only a scant few properties are fed by this mainline anymore. From 1981 to the mid-2010s, the pipe fed treated water from the Pilchuck River to serve more than half the city, the rest from Everett. The city made a cost-saving move in the mid-2010s to have all city water sourced from Everett. The cost savings came from not having to repair the city's aging water plant. Instead, the plant near the Pilchuck River Dam was decommissioned. The city ceded its water rights to the Pilchuck, and a process started to demolish the dam itself for salmon restoration purposes.
With the Pilchuck out of the picture, the water the city delivers to customers with the transmission line is today sourced from Snohomish County PUD.
The line:
