Help With One Tap Water Pipe Repair, One Day: Just $18,900!

Readers may recall the dramatic water main break under South 4th Street that took our DPW Water Department 4 months to permanently repair this past summer and fall, a situation Hudseen reported on.  Not only did it take DPW, with some assistance, a long time to fix that pipe, but it also cost the city quite a bit of money to finally get it done.

Though the pipe was temporarily repaired right away and water resumed flowing the day after the break, DPW Superintendent Robert Perry told the council members and the public that the broken pipe would be permanently fixed once he could schedule time with the Village of Catskill DPW and their special guillotine pipe saw, which would have been utilized at no cost to the city.  The wait was on, for months.  

Well, as Mr. Perry explained at November's informal Common Council meeting a week or two after the water main was finally fixed, he had changed plans since Catskill's no-cost assistance and special pipe saw would not have been able to repair our pipe after all.  Instead, he had to "bring in a contractor" to help replace a section of old metal pipe with a gaping hole in it.  No mention was made of how much that assistance would cost the city, nor did any council members ask Mr. Perry about the cost.

One expensive busted pipe repair awaits!
(October)

That contractor was a company by the name of Glenn Davis Valve Solutions.  According to the invoice that the company sent DPW after their work on South 4th Street was completed, they worked at the site for one day, on the 31st of October, doing work on 2 water pipes. (Perry never mentioned anything about a second pipe needing attention.)  DPW needed Glenn Davis Valve Solutions for their "Line Stopping Services" expertise for one day on both a 6-inch pipe and an 8-inch pipe.  The total cost to the city for that contractor's assistance was $100 shy of $19,000!  (DPW Water Department employees also spent at least 3 days working at the site, pushing the cost for that single water main repair well over $20,000!)

Something tells me that our DPW Water Department is poorly prepared for certain types of water main breaks.  They have no guillotine saw to cut difficult-to-access pipes, nor bladder contraption to "stop the water flow," as Mr. Perry explained how the contractor he "brought in" had assisted DPW on South 4th Street.  What other equipment doesn't our DPW have that they probably should own?  If Catskill has a special saw to quickly repair certain broken pipes, why don't we?  We don't need one?   We can live without one and rely on Catskill's help, waiting for months?

Is there a shortage of in-house expertise and special equipment at the DPW Water Department but no shortage of money to hire contractors to fix problems for us?  Shouldn't our DPW be able to fix and replace all of their own pipes and valves, no matter how large a leak the pipes develop?  Will DPW have to call someone in for assistance with the next water main break that arises?  And the next one after that?  Spend another $19,000 to have someone help us replace a busted pipe 6 feet underground?