Installation of the final 702 feet of 24-inch water main is set to take place in October.
Steve Disney, executive director of the Bradford City Water Authority, gave an update on the redundant water main installation at Wednesday’s regular authority meeting, he reported to The Era after the meeting.
The redundant water main will help prevent a water crisis like the one that occurred in Bradford in 2015.
Disney anticipates that needed parts and equipment — delayed due to COVID-19-related supply issues — will arrive in early October. D&M Construction will complete the water main installation and install final connections to Reservoir No. 4 when the items arrive. As part of the same contract, Interstate Parkway is slated to be milled and overlaid within the next two weeks.
The authority awarded Dave Kronenwetter the Reservoir No. 4 electrical contract for the project for $73,982.
For their own portion of the redundant water main project, Mortimer Excavating still needs to install an interconnection between the two 24-inch transmission mains on West Corydon Street and a connection to the 8-inch line along Lang Maid Lane over the next two weeks. Paving and restoration is slated to begin during the same time period.
Regarding a main line extension on Kenmar Acres, Disney said Mortimer’s has completed the installation of more than 2,200 feet of the new main line. They estimate it will take 20 days to complete the project, but customer taps won’t be installed until the new water main has passed pressure and bacterial testing.
All Kenmar Acres project area customers were sent information from the McKean County Office of Economic Development on potential funding assistance for line installations. Mandatory hook-ups have been delayed until July 1, 2021, to give customers time to find funding.
Disney also talked about the installation of a 24-inch insertion valve Aug. 17-18 by Mortimer’s Excavating.
However, a 20-inch valve installation that was scheduled for 2020 on the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford campus near Dorothy Lane was delayed to mid-October due to COVID-19-related production delays.
The authority has installed more than 70 new valves over the past three years across the water system. New valves are being placed at areas that historically have had difficulty in securing an efficient positive shutdown.
Disney anticipates that a standby generator transfer switch and related equipment will be shipped and installed at the water treatment plant toward the end of October. He explained that recent power outages revealed deficiencies in the ability of the stand-by generator. The estimated project cost is $75,000.
In a report submitted to the authority from Ken Kane, president of Generations Forestry, Kane proposed more site prep chipping operations on collapsed beech stands. This was a program that was first started on the Bradford watershed and is in use on the Allegheny National Forest, too.
Disney talked about a number of new projects, too.
For one, a recent electrical failure in the raw water pumping station at the water treatment plant has prompted the authority to plan upgrades to prevent further failures. The cost estimate for the project is $32,000.
Also, the authority is also looking to add a pumping station to the valve field on West Washington Street across from Gilbert Lane so the authority can pump raw water from the Gilbert Reservoir into the daily raw water used for the plant. Estimated project cost is $117,000.
