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City approves emergency replacement of aging Warren Avenue water main after repeated breaks
Summary
After about eight breaks this year on a 1931 cast‑iron main, council authorized emergency replacement of roughly 800 feet of pipe on Warren Avenue; Fisher Excavating was selected with an estimated cost of $230,000–$250,000.
The Freeport City Council on Sept. 2 adopted a resolution authorizing emergency replacement of an estimated 800 feet of aging cast‑iron water main on Warren Avenue after multiple recent breaks.
Public Works staff told council the 6‑inch cast‑iron main, installed in 1931, has suffered roughly eight failures in recent months. Director Darren (last name on file) said staff found a 20‑foot section in very poor condition during recent repairs and that continued patching was no longer effective. "That section has had the vast majority of breaks. That's why we're doing that 800 feet," he said.
Staff recommended moving forward with Fisher Excavating to replace the line from Gleana to Cable; the work will include water‑main gate valves, fire hydrants and service connections within the right‑of‑way. The cost estimate presented to council was $230,000 to $250,000. Council authorized using reserves to finance the emergency work and approved the resolution 8–0.
Several aldermen asked about materials and impacts. Staff said the city standard replacement material is C909 PVC (pressure‑rated PVC) and estimated that repeated repairs had already cost the city roughly $80,000 this summer; staff cited a rough national average of $10,000 per water‑main break. Director Duckman said crews will schedule the work to follow currently active projects and that Fisher will proceed to Warren after completing work on Harvey.
Ending: Staff said replacement will proceed as an emergency action to stop recurring outages and that remaining segments will be programmed for future years as funding allows.
