The City of Williams Lake has taken the next step in repairing the Zone 1 water main under Highway 20.
At Tuesday nights city council meeting, the council awarded the tender to Morben Contracting Ltd. for the tendered price of $132,841 plus taxes, with an additional $3,880.00 to True Engineering for engineering services required for design drawing and tender preparation bringing the total to $136,721.
Currently, the Highway 20 and Hodgson Road area is in an active slide zone, and water and sewer lines in this area have required repairs numerous times in the past and will continue to need repairs as the ground moves.
Typically, City utility crews perform repair work. However, in this instance, the water main is broken in a casing under Highway 20. Due to this location, there are demands for extra engineering, permitting and liabilities associated with the work.
No businesses or residences are affected, though two City and two private fire hydrants are out of service.
This repair will be made with High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipe. This pipe can withstand stresses laterally that the existing pipe cannot.
The existing Ductile Iron (DI) pipe has failed under the highway, and the City said that it failed due to lateral shearing from ground movement or if it has rotted from standing in groundwater throughout its life.
Lake Excavating also but in a bid for construction for $245,000.
The funding for this project will be drawn from the existing water operational budget.