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Utilities Airmen return water to residents

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Callahan
  • 319 Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Water was seen bubbling up out side of 1301 Spruce Dr. here March 5. Initially called in as a service line repair, base utilities Airmen found a bigger problem than expected.

"We thought at first it was going to be a small line going to the residence, but after digging for a couple of hours to expose the line, we saw the source of the leak was the main itself," said Tech. Sgt. Joel Kolb, 319th Civil Engineer Squadron.

According to Sergeant Kolb, water mains can break for many reasons.

"This time of year, the ground shifts due to frost," he added. When we have warmer weather, followed by a cold snap, the lines can break."

The water mains in base housing are at least eight to 10 feet deep. In addition to exposing the line itself, utilities personnel have to dig through snow and ice in order to get to the eight valves to isolate the water line.

"It was a nightmare," said Staff Sgt. Bradley Robasciotti, 319th CES. "Turning valves to isolate a main should be a 10 minute job, but chipping through ice to get the valve turned made it a 45 minute to one hour job per valve."

Some valve boxes had more than six feet of ice in them, he said.

In addition to the time consuming task of exposing and isolating the water main, safety precautions add to the amount of time to make the repair.

"When you do repairs in housing, the safety of the residents is a primary concern," Sergeant Kolb stated. "We have to ensure we don't dig too close to a house, as well as keep children a safe distance away."

The safety of the residents is only one aspect of the repair that utilities Airmen focus on.

"We have to taper the hole to prevent cave-ins, there are always at least three people on the job, a supervisor and two crew members, as well as radios, to ensure our Airmen stay as safe as possible. But, this time of year, if our people don't have the right cold weather gear, they don't go on the job," Sergeant Kolb said. "Weather is a big factor."

"If it gets too cold, we start a work/rest cycle," Sergeant Robaschitotti pointed out. "We'll sit in the truck to warm up. If it gets too bad, we'll get a large heater and put it in the hole with us."

Once the utilities personnel get to the break, the job of repairing it doesn't necessarily get easier.

"It depends on the fracture," said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Soulies, 319th CES. "If the damage is larger than a clamp (a small puncture), we'll cut out the bad section and replace it by using two clamps, which means more digging and more safety precautions."

Once the repair is made, the job is far from over.

"Normally, we flush the main to rid the line of any dirt that may have made its way in during the repair," Sergeant Kolb averred. "The line is chlorinated to kill any bacteria to make sure its safe for the public to use. Also, bio [bioenvironmental engineers] test the water on base to ensure we adhere to drinking water standards."

"A lot of people wonder why it takes so long to make a repair like this," said Sergeant Kolb. "The safety precautions take up a good amount of time. Then we dig for the break, turn off the water, make the repair, turn on the water, check for leaks and backfill. We have to ensure proper backfilling to prevent sink holes from occurring."

"We work as hard as we can as fast as we can, and we're aware of the inconvenience to housing residents, but it's a difficult and time consuming job this time of year," he acknowledged.