With the help of a company from Tionesta, the Bradford City Water Authority was able to replace on Thursday a water valve that was the source of a leak Wednesday night down Interstate Parkway.

Digging began Thursday morning at a crosswalk at the intersection of State and North Bennett streets and Interstate Parkway to make the repair.

Water authority Executive Director Steve Disney explained, “The valve that we found that was leaking, we couldn’t shut the line off, so we had to bring in a specialized contractor from Tionesta that could do valve insertion, can come in and actually tap the water main live — with water pressure still on.” Once the new valve was inserted, they could get a positive shut-off on the line and replaced the leaking valve.

“In order to do the valve insertion, only a few specialized contractors across the country have the technology and equipment.

“The actual valve insertion went very well. The whole project was delayed, and it was a long day for us,” he noted. He explained that due to the other utility services that ran through the project area, the crew had to be careful digging to not damage other things. “The valve insertion was relatively quick once we got the line exposed,” he added.

Disney said the project took about 9 ½ hours from 7 a.m. to about 4:30 p.m., and the only customers impacted were State Street residents between North Bennett and North Center streets, who lost service for about 2 ½ hours.

Now that he knows the technology is available so close, he anticipates the water authority will utilize the services of the company, Mealy Excavating, in the future to make repairs before larger problems occur. “This is really slick technology that would help us in a lot of areas down the road.”

While no specific future projects planned, “Knowing that this technology and equipment is available and fairly close to us, we are going to look at other areas of our infrastructure and prioritize areas that might need this technology.”