By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Neighbors and city officials can agree on at least one aspect of the Conneaut Avenue water project – it’s been a nightmare.
For those living along the stretch of Conneaut from Mitchell Road to Wintergarden Road, the project has meant multiple boil advisories, yards still torn up for the waterline work, and almost constant dust from the gravel roadway.
For the city employees, the project has been a source of frustration caused by faulty waterline equipment and unexpected delays.
Has the waterline project been a headache and a nightmare? “Yes and yes,” said Bowling Green Public Utilities Director Brian O’Connell.
In an attempt to explain the delays, the city invited residents along the waterline to an open house Thursday. On display were some of the pieces of defective equipment that have plagued the project.
The project began in January to replace the old water main, affecting about 50 homes along Conneaut Avenue.
For each home, a “saddle” is wrapped around the waterline, allowing a hookup with the home. The saddles used with the old line were made of cast iron and were severely deteriorated. So new saddles were ordered and fitted to the waterline.
But the new saddles would not seal on the old waterline, since it was not an exact round shape. So new PVC pipe was installed and the saddles were fitted. Residents were advised to boil their water, and all seemed good.
Then the saddle connections started leaking.
So different saddles were ordered and put on the waterline. Residents were again asked to boil their water. Again the seals seemed good – until a few days later when leaks occurred once again.
Mike Johnson, BG water distribution and wastewater collection supervisor, shows old saddles to Conneaut resident Amy Rahmel.
It was soon discovered that these saddles, made by a different company, had the same problem. The America-made portion of the saddle and the China-made nozzle portion did not provide a tight seal.
“We brought in the manufacturer, we brought in the supplier,” said Assistant Municipal Administrator Joe Fawcett.
So the city switched over to all brass saddles, made completely in the U.S.
“Now it’s sealing,” Fawcett said.
And city workers took over the project, rather than delay it further by getting bids from outside contractors.
“The guys did an amazing job,” O’Connell said of the city crews.
So, now the city is busy reconnecting all of the homes – again.
Fawcett likened it to a home improvement project. “We keep finding things” that need to be fixed, he said.
The project was further delayed when workers clipped an unmarked gas line.
“It just keeps snowballing,” Fawcett said. “It’s been a long, long project.”
The repeated boil advisories are annoying some of the residents.
“That gets customers upset,” O’Connell said. “I would be, too, if I had repeated boil orders.”
It’s not just the waterline portion of the project that bothers neighbors. It’s the temporary repairs to Conneaut Avenue with gravel that stirs up dust every time a vehicle passes.
And that’s not about to get better anytime soon, since while the road is torn up the city wants to do a sewer project along Conneaut as well. A temporary roadway will be constructed, but the final paving will have to wait.
“We didn’t want to have a brand new paved street,” then rip it up again, O’Connell explained.
The sewer project, which is scheduled to begin at the end of the year, is necessary to increase the size of the pump along Conneaut. The project will require even more digging, since the sewer trench will need to be about 15 feet deep, O’Connell said.
“There’s still going to be a lot of destruction,” he said.
Meanwhile, some neighbors are getting construction fatigue. One resident said she is tired of her yard being torn up.
“The yard is a mess, just a mess,” she said. “I was planning to reseed this fall.” But those plans will be delayed since the sewer work won’t be completed until sometime in 2018.
Another neighbor is tired of dust kicked up by cars on the gravel in the street. The city is looking at the possibility of reducing the speed limit during the construction, and will ask the police division to move its electronic speed sign to Conneaut to make drivers aware of their speed.
“People are just driving too fast,” said Conneaut Avenue resident Chris Bedra.
But some neighbors are just making accommodations.
“I live here,” Amy Rahmel said as she pointed at the map of the project during the open house. She usually takes detours to avoid the gravel. “I try to stay off the stones.”
