water main replacements?

[nzwasp]

I live in Arbour lake and for the last 3 weeks the calgary water services crews have had their equipment and temporary office parked in my street.

It looks like they are upgrading all the water mains. I tried calling 311 and asking but the guy who answered the phone knew nothing of any water services construction projects in my area. Does anyone live around here or in another suburb where the situation sounded very similar and know what they are doing?

We are concerned, because they have spray painted my water main blue and I am afraid that they are going to tear up my newly landscaped lawn to "upgrade" our water main and not put it back to how it currently is.

[dirtsniffer]

is there a fire hydrant on your lawn? if not, don't worry about them touching your lawn.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by nzwasp
I live in Arbour lake and for the last 3 weeks the calgary water services crews have had their equipment and temporary office parked in my street.

It looks like they are upgrading all the water mains. I tried calling 311 and asking but the guy who answered the phone knew nothing of any water services construction projects in my area. Does anyone live around here or in another suburb where the situation sounded very similar and know what they are doing?

We are concerned, because they have spray painted my water main blue and I am afraid that they are going to tear up my newly landscaped lawn to "upgrade" our water main and not put it back to how it currently is.

You need to be a bit more specific/clear: the line running to your house is not in anyway considered a water main. Beyond that, it is VERY rare the city touches water lines to a house. They might have it marked so if they are replacing the main line, they know where they will have to hook each house up at. I would definitely be proactive and contact the city that it would be unacceptable to tear up your lawn and not fix it if they plan on doing it.

[nzwasp]

Im talking about that little metal thing that sits usually on your lawn near the side walk or it can be in the middle of your drive way. All i know is its outside and you turn it off if theres ever a major problem with your house (seperate to the main tap in your basement).

I read on the city council website that if they replace/repair your water main then they are not required to fix your lawn because its on your property.

And yes they have been ripping up peoples lawns and not fixing them for months!

[Hounddog]

Sounds like you're describing a curb stop- not a water main.

[Ven]

Ya they're doing anode retrofit up there. They probably wont be on your property, only ahead of the valve. If the grass gets disturbed they'll loam and seed it after the job is done. Having an anode attached to your service line will significantly extend its life. Typically the cost to the homeowner is 8 to 15k to replace it should it fail on your side of the curbstop.

[nzwasp]

Originally posted by Ven
Ya they're doing anode retrofit up there. They probably wont be on your property, only ahead of the valve. If the grass gets disturbed they'll loam and seed it after the job is done. Having an anode attached to your service line will significantly extend its life. Typically the cost to the homeowner is 8 to 15k to replace it should it fail on your side of the curbstop.

well thats nice, i wonder if they will rebuild my dry river bed as well.

Yes the curb stop thing is what i was thinking of.

[nzwasp]

I found out what was happening with this.

In Arbour Lake and Rocky Ridge the water mains are made of plastic, the pipe coming from your house is also plastic, but the bit in between that the curb stop is attached too is copper. Now the electricity lines and gas lines run across the pipes and across the front of everyone's houses. The electricity lines are anodizing the copper lines causing them to leak.

Now theres been eight leaks that they knew about in the last month so they have fixed those. Six of these occured on public side of the curb stop and therefore the city fixed it no charge. Two of them however have been on the private side and so the owners have been left with the cost. One owner was pinged 12k and had 2 weeks to find the money and fix the problem. The other guy had the problem in the middle of his driveway and it cost 25k!!

This seems like a brutal problem and I really hope that Im not going to get a bill to fix this when it comes to my turn for it to be inspected. Because at the end of the day the city approved the lines to be that way so it should be their fault!

[Ven]

The ground is (-) and the pipes are (+). The (+) is moving to the (-) and is literally taking some metal with it. Normal situation. There is enough sodiums and water in our ground material to make this happen without any external factors. The problem is the copper service line (main to curb stop) is so small it takes a huge hit for losses, especially if there is only poly on either side that won't share the load. Hence the anodes being attached to provide cathodic protection and greatly lessen that load on the copper.

There are significantly more neighborhoods with the configuration yours has. Some homes will have issues sooner, most not. There are a lot of dependent factors at work, such as the composition of the ground makeup and moisture levels, etc. Basically everyone's service line will fail eventually for both water and sanitary regardless of material used. The difference being time to failure. The config in your area can potentially fail faster if left untouched. Never think that your line won't fail, it will, and it never happens when you have a spare 12k sitting around. That's life.

My understanding is that PEX was not approved to be used off a poly main at the time, and some communities were just starting to use PEX inside the homes. So copper, which has been used with exceptional success, was implemented. If you have the gray poly-b water lines in your home you will have a copper service line from the main to the curb stop. After the curb stop you could have either copper or poly-b (shudder) which would have been spec'd by the builder. So basically if your line is copper and in good shape, which it likely is, you are now protected and the costs of replacement are deferred for quite a long time.

[nzwasp]

I came home last night to a big blue X spray painted on the lawn next to the curb stop, anybody know what this might mean?

Couldnt be at a worse time, trying to sell our house at the moment.

[Tik-Tok]

Well, back in the day a red 'X' meant you have the plague. But since it's blue... does your g/f have blue waffle?