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Arcata reports 50% complete on $11 million steel waterline replacement; smart meters detect leaks
Summary
City staff said the steel waterline replacement project is about half finished, targets roughly 10% of the system (about $11 million funded by the city), replaces century‑old steel mains and upsizes lines to improve firefighting capacity; staff noted smart meters (331 installed so far) have already detected leaks and will inform future meter‑replacement grant work.
City staff told the Arcata City Council on April 15 that the steel waterline replacement project is roughly 50% complete and targets about 10% of the city’s water infrastructure.
Presenters said the approximately $11 million, city‑funded project focuses on replacing old galvanized steel and thin‑wall PVC sections (some more than a century old) and on upsizing undersized lines to improve firefighting capacity by changing several 4‑inch lines to 6‑inch. Staff said new materials (PVC C900) and upgraded control valve clusters will reduce breaks, improve isolation during repairs and limit lost water.
Steve (project presenter) described the challenges of century‑old valves and scaling inside pipes, and explained the aim to install additional fire hydrants to meet coverage requirements — a change that staff said could also lower homeowners’ insurance premiums for affected properties.
Staff highlighted the city installation of 331 smart‑read water meters so far. Those meters report usage every 15 minutes; staff said they identified 12 detected leaks within one month among the newly installed meters and supplied a recent example of a business leak of roughly 45 gallons per hour that older meters had not shown. Customers can create accounts at ionwater.com to receive leak notifications and see near‑real‑time usage, staff said.
The presentation acknowledged construction impacts — parking loss, temporary closures, and sidewalk openings — and said staff are coordinating with businesses and providing two‑week traffic notices via the city GIS construction map. Staff also said the project team is coordinating strategically to do paving closures at times that minimize business impacts.
City staff said the project will be followed by an additional meter‑replacement phase (targeting 2027–28) pending grant funding, and noted about 375 meters remain flagged for further inspection or replacement. Council members and speakers praised contractors’ outreach and noted the project addresses repeated emergency repairs that previously patched rather than replaced failing mains.
