I reached out to Director of Public Works Paula Vandehey and Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) regarding the Water Main Resolution that Alderperson Doran recently submitted.
The resolution was referred to staff and I wanted to know when we could expect it to come before a committee for action. Director Vandehey anticipated staff would be ready with recommendations by mid-May and would provide those to both the Finance Committee and the Utilities Committee.
Additionally, in light of the water main break numbers from 2021 I asked, “the water main breaks this year are already 33% higher than the water main breaks at this time last year—and last year was already a very high year for water main breaks. Is this something the public should be concerned about? If the ARPA funds don’t get reallocated to this, is the city still going to be able to manage its water delivery system within the budget that is set?”
Director Vandehey responded, “The public should be aware, but does not need to be concerned. All customers continue to receive a safe and plentiful water supply. I’ve attached a graph showing how the number of breaks fluctuate over the years based on factors including water temperature, depth of frost, change in pressure, etc. An example in change of pressure might be that we just relayed an old, undersized watermain in the immediate area improving pressure but finding the next ‘weakest link.’ It is too early in the year to promise that we will stay within any budget! However, if staff is repairing watermain breaks then we are not doing other preventative maintenance such as exercising valves, performing leak detection, etc. In any given year we overspend some accounts and underspend other accounts, with the bottom line being within budget. As we move through each year, we keep the Council informed of any necessary budget adjustments.”
Alderperson Doran answered, “I do think there is cause for concern with the rising number of water main breaks. As Director Vandehey would tell you, there are a number of factors at play in why we are seeing them, but there is no doubt that the aging infrastructure plays a role in many of the main breaks.
“The longer we keep pushing projects back, the more we will likely see the upward trend continue. As concerning, is the fact that the more we keep borrowing for projects we should pay cash for, the deeper the hole we dig in trying to maintain an adequate replacement cycle because our increasing debt prevents us from doing as many projects as we should.
“I brought this resolution forward because I think we are getting to a point where we can’t keep pushing these projects off anymore. I don’t think it’s a crisis yet, but I also hope we never get to that point. If this resolution fails, I will be looking into other ways to reallocate budget resources in the future toward these projects. The mayor and the council need to start prioritizing infrastructure work in the general fund of the budget and not pushing it off to the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) where borrowing just increases the cost of every project we do.“
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