Mayor Bob Kennedy said Avalon needs to invest in its saltwater infrastructure at the Tuesday, July 16, City Council meeting.
The issue came up when David Clary, chief plant operator for Environ Strategy, presented a broken section of pipe from the Wednesday morning, July 3, water main break. Environ Strategy handles Avalon’s sewer and saltwater system.
Last week, Clary said the break might have been caused by corrosion.
Clary said pressure blew a hold in the top of the connection at Beacon and Catalina.
Mayor Bob Kennedy said Avalon needs to invest in its saltwater infrastructure at the Tuesday, July 16, City Council meeting.
The issue came up when David Clary, chief plant operator for Environ Strategy, presented a broken section of pipe from the Wednesday morning, July 3, water main break. Environ Strategy handles Avalon’s sewer and saltwater system.
Last week, Clary said the break might have been caused by corrosion.
Clary said pressure blew a hold in the top of the connection at Beacon and Catalina.
At the time, Clary said the aging saltwater system ss coming to the point where it needed a lot of repairs.
“In my opinion, this has been broken for a long time,” Clary said, speaking to the council this week.
Clary urged the council to act.
“We’re going to have a lot of these breaks and stuff if we don’t do something about it,” Clary said.
Council Member Ralph Morrow said the pipes should all be plastic.
Clary said most of the connectors in Avalon are iron.
He also said the fittings all date back to 1962. He said the 6-inch line going down Beacon Street was so encrusted that there was only a small hole. He indicated the size of the hole by making a circle with his thumb and a finger.
Kennedy said: “This is part of our fire fighting infrastructure.”
He pointed out that if all the saltwater lines were heavily encrusted, Avalon would be in “serious trouble” in the event of a fire.
Kennedy said he didn’t think the city had a choice but to get under the ground and replace the fittings.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know where all the fittings are,” Kennedy said.
“We need to address this promptly,” he said.
The part that broke on Wednesday, July 3, is commonly known as a “cross,” according to Dennis Jaich, who described himself an Avalon Public Works associate. The 4-way “cross” at the intersection of Beacon and Catalina connected two saltwater pipelines, one 6 inches in diameter and the other 8 inches in diameter.
The top of the cross gave way.
