With the pipeline troubles that Calgary had in June, that brings into focus on the aging infrastructure that most communities are dealing with.
Drumheller is also in that group and the Town of Drumheller continues to work on repairs on the water and sewer lines. Two weeks ago, a water main valve in Huntington went and crews repaired said valve. Then, last week, the water main in front of Western GM, on Highway 9, went with crews repairing a section of water pipeline. The Town of Drumheller shares that they continue to work on updating the water infrastructure. “Every municipality is dealing with aging infrastructure. We, as a town, address what we would consider to be more the critical water mains with replacement plans in mind. A few years ago, we started the water main replacement plan in the downtown core that was to replace a lot of the cast iron infrastructure and it’s a part of the capital plan, pretty well every year to replace a lot of that underground infrastructure that has begun to age out.” The Town of Drumheller currently has about 127 kilometres of water main in Drumheller, as well as about 80 kilometres of sanitary sewer lines. The Town is confident that they have a plan in place to replace the aging pipelines.
One of the projects that they are currently working on is replacing a pipeline that goes from 5th Street West, under the river, to the North Drumheller substation located south of Poplar Street in North Drumheller. The Town of Drumheller clarifies what is involved with the project. “Essentially, we have a river crossing underneath the river and it goes down several feet underneath the river bottom. That is our water main and our sanitary sewer line that goes underneath the river to service the northern part of Drumheller. That was identified as aging infrastructure and is a significant project. Basically, they have to put a huge pipe through the ground, underneath the river while the river is moving, under several feet of bentonite, clay, and sand and then they’ll pull the line through while simultaneously removing the old line.”
The work continues on the installation and removal of the pipelines from central Drumheller to North Drumheller as we speak. As for the condition of the system when it comes to water levels with the hot conditions as of late, the Town shares that we are in good shape. With the amount of rain we got in May and June, the reserves are in great shape.
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