“We want to be proactive in replacing this particular piece, given the problems we had in our February water main break,” she said.
MORE: ‘Nearly catastrophic’ break a glimpse of vulnerabilities to Dayton area’s water
The Dayton City Commission has approved an almost $1.1 million contract with Sunesis Construction to replace a 24-inch water main under the Great Miami River.
The water main, located between Cincinnati Street and Arbor Boulevard, dates back to 1922, city documents state.
Sunesis will replace about 1,141 feet of water main using horizontal directional drilling. The company will install 30- and 24-inch piping.
The Feb. 13 break, water outage and resulting boil advisory made the city take a closer look at its water-distribution system, Dickstein said. During the incident, a 30-foot section of pipe broke away.
Since February, city staff have evaluated its water infrastructure and identified aging piping that is nearing the end of its useful life, Dickstein said. The city uses that information to develop its capital-replacement work plan.
“We do these ‘white-wash’ exercises after every event so we can learn what went well, what we can improve on, what improvements can we make to enhance our resiliency for the next event,” Dickstein said.
Water pipes under the river can be particularly challenging to repair if problems arise, she said.
MORE: Dayton blames county contractor for February water outage
Credit: Marshall Gorby
Credit: Marshall Gorby
But Dickstein said the water main that burst in February was only 28 years old and was a 36-inch concrete pipe that was supposed to have a 100-year life.
The city alleges the pipe was damaged by a contractor doing work for Montgomery County to replace the Keowee Street Bridge.
The city’s goal is to replace about 1 percent of its 800 miles of water piping every year, and criteria used to determine what to replace includes age and number of breaks, city officials said.
The Feb. 13 water outage caused headaches for residents and business owners across the city.
Alexandra Rivers, who owns Twist Cupcakery on St. Clair St. in downtown Dayton, said the break happened one day before Valentine's Day, which is huge day for her business.
Twist was without water for multiple days, and Rivers had to bring in bottle water for baking and sanitizing supplies.
“I think sometimes we take for granted how good the quality of water is here in Dayton, and also how important it is to our every day lives,” she said.
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