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AWA repairs sewer pipe

The Altoona Water Authority avoided the much higher cost of hiring a contractor by using its own workers to repair a broken storm sewer main that was leaking into the Little Juniata River last month, Sewer Operations Director Todd Musser told the authority board on Thursday.

The materials, including plastic pipe to replace 80 feet of the old concrete line, concrete blocks to form a wall to keep the river separate from the repaired section and rip-rap to protect the wall, cost a total of about $20,000, while man hours and equipment added an amount that wasn’t easily calculated, Musser said.

But those costs were still only “a fraction” of what the authority would have had to pay for an emergency repair by a hired firm, he said, guessing the cost might have amounted to about $100,000.

Such a firm “wouldn’t have taken it easy on us,” because of the urgency, he said.

The work drew heavily upon the creativity and resourcefulness of various employees and showed the breadth of talent on staff, according to Musser and General Manager Mark Perry.

It was evident in the use of a truck tire innertube to create a seal between much smaller plastic piping and the existing concrete piping to create a temporary connection while awaiting permanent replacement plastic pipe, the use of 3,500-pound interlocking concrete “waste” blocks formed from concrete left over from delivery trucks at the concrete plant, and in the sealing of the permanent connections between the plastic and concrete piping with a protective mound of concrete, Musser indicated.

The break occurred behind Burgmeier’s Hauling transfer station because the river had shifted, undermining the line, one of three running parallel beside the riverbank, according to Musser.

The break was discovered by officials investigating a fish kill downstream that was eventually determined not to have been caused by the break, according to Musser and an official of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission who spoke to the Mirror in July.

Authority workers were able to stop the flow of sewer water into the river quickly by diverting the flow from the broken pipe into one of the other two parallel lines, Musser said.

Still, the break caused pollution, Musser said, showing photos that depicted “gray water” in contrast to the clear water of the regular streamflow.

“There was definitely some degradation,” Musser said.

To minimize harm, authority workers placed straw bales downstream to absorb some of the gray water, Musser said.

Representatives of the Blair County Conservation District, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Fish & Boat Commission all appeared to be satisfied with the authority’s response, Musser said.

The authority learned of the break July 17 and completed the work July 30.

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