City contends with line breaks

A waterline break on Flaming Gorge Way underscores a system that’s at the end of its lifespan according to a press release from the city.

City streets crews repaired a break in front of Sweetwater Trophies Dec. 28 and breakages have become a yearly situation, but a fix to the problem may not be coming soon.

Mark Westenskow, director of public works, said the ideal situation would be for the city to do a comprehensive project through Green River’s downtown that would both rebuild streets with more ADA accessibility and upgrade the waterline to provide for better fire protection in the area. Currently, the main line in the area is a 4 inch cast iron line that’s at the end of its useful life.

According to the release, the city is working with the Wyoming Department of Transportation to identify the cost the proposed project, but funding and timing remain an uncertainty.

The fall season is actually the main time for line breakages to occur.

“Some customers are still irrigating and in the fall we end up seeing water hammer issues that can expose weak points in the system and leaks can start small and may be unnoticeable for some time before a changed condition, like the freezing of the ground, makes the leak bad enough to notice,” he said.

While the city uses 6 million gallons of water a day in the summer, that cut to just 1 million a day in the winter. Westenskow said the water system tightens up in the winter, allowing water to find weak points in the system as water follows a path of least resistance.