Water main valves to be upgraded this spring
A recently repaired water main valve in Manchester. Photo courtesy of Brent Jones
by Marsha Chartrand
“We don’t have any real serious problems yet — but we want to upgrade things to make our jobs easier before any potential problems get bigger,” said DPW Superintendent Brent Jones while explaining the planned updates to the water main valves within the City of Manchester. He added that many mains and fire hydrants are outdated and it is getting harder to find replacement parts.
In some places, the hardware has already exceeded its life expectancy and “we want to stay on top of it,” Jones said. “There is no blame to be laid; these kinds of projects always cost a lot of money, but we’ve done what we can, following the example we’ve been set by our predecessors, and we just want to keep making improvements.”
Jones acknowledged that the work will last well into the summer and will include some planned disruptions of services in selected neighborhoods throughout the city. Each disruption, however, will only take a couple of days as the DPW tests the water and then proceeds with its work as needed in each neighborhood.
“Letters will be hand delivered to any houses that will be affected,” Jones said. “We want to do as much work as we can with as little disruptions of service as possible.” Work is set to begin in April or May, depending on when the frost is completely out of the ground.
A water main valve is where the workers can isolate and turn off water flow to small portions of the city without causing city-wide disruptions. Seeing what happened in Detroit two weeks ago is proof of what happens if these projects are neglected too long.
Jones said he and his crew are eager to get started: “We can be proud of what Manchester has done so far — both under past and present leadership.”
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