After discovering what Lac La Biche County officials are describing as a “small sag in the line” using a remote camera, crews that have been working on the water and sewer line replacement for the last four months were fixing the problem through the holiday weekend.
Thanks to their work over the weekend, the affected piece of pipe will be fixed and the excavation will be backfilled again, says County spokesperson Jihad Moghrabi.
“The contractor will be working over the long weekend to speed up the process,” Moghrabi told the POST last Thursday.
The POST was contacted by several residents along the 105 Street and Churchill Drive construction area that crews were digging up the pipeline last Thursday. Residents along the road said the road- which has been dug up for the replacement of the underground cast iron water and sewer pipes since May - had been leveled and graded and was looking like it was ready for paving just prior to the latest dig.
Lac La Biche County CAO Shadia Amblie tells the POST that contractors often cover over underground pipelines to test the lines before final touches are placed on road re-surfacing.
“It’ s worth noting that it’ s common to backfill pipes to test if they can withstand the load,” Amblie said last week. “In the case of 105 Street, the camera test identified a weak area, which needed to be repaired and backfilled again.
With the weekend’ s snowfall and colder temperatures, it was not known by POST press deadline what would happen to the construction area.
At the Main Street construction area - another location where old cast iron water and sewer pipes are being replaced with newer PVC pipes - County officials say more digging took place last week to fix a portion of the line that failed pressure tests.
“Workers determined that the cause was a manufacturing defect in a main stop valve to one of the nearby residences,” said Moghrabi, adding that the four-month long project will see more work over the next several weeks. “The defective valve was dug up, replaced, and backfilled. There will be more earth removal in the coming weeks as part of the subgrade preparation.”
