Going with the flow: Municipalities' work never done with water infrastructure

Jul. 16—LIMA — It is a fundamental necessity for life itself, and in the developed world, it is largely available through a simple twist of the wrist at the facuet. While people in more remote, rural areas rely on wells for their drinking water, ensuring clean, drinkable water for those connected to municipal water systems is a multi-million dollar endeavor every year for those municipalities, and that includes maintaining the pipes that deliver that water to every home.

As the age of that delivery system increases, the chances for breakdowns also go up. Both Continental and Spencerville experienced this firsthand after recent water line breaks forced both villages to issue precautionary boil water advisories in late June and early July, respectively.

"There were four old taps within about six or seven feet of each other," Continental water department operator Trevor Leis said. "They were old taps that were actually leading to nowhere, since they were from old buildings. Usually you would take those back to the main and take those taps out and just put a band on there. The more you can do to prevent a possible leak in the future, the easier it becomes in the future."

Leis also noted that this was the fifth or sixth break the village has dealt with on that particular line since September, a line that runs about 1,500 feet in total.

Pipes stretching back decades

Ben Suever just began his tenure as Spencerville's village administrator on Monday, but even though he was not in Spencerville at the time of the village's water line break, his experience working in such communities as Elida and Delphos has given him a deep familiarity with the issues municipalities face when it comes to water infrastructure.

"Everything is aging," he said. "There are older pipes in the ground. Just in Allen County, there are water and sewer lines that date to the 1950s up to where we're obviously still putting them in the ground today. When you think of anything made in the 1950s, that's almost 75 years old."

"I would say probably at least 50 to 60 percent of our infrastructure is over 60 years old," Leis said describing the water distribution lines in Continental. "We just got a new water tower. I think 2021 was when it went into operation. As for when the old tower was built, we have documents going back to 1934 or 1936, I think. You're talking World War II-era infrastructure in the ground."

In Lima, some of the city's water line pipes date back even earlier, according to utilities director Mike Caprella. He also said that while the age of the pipe is an important factor in its longevity, the materials and quality of construction also play a role.

"We've got cast iron pipe out there that predates World War II," he said. "At that time, it was pretty thick stuff and could last forever, practically. Post-World War II, you couldn't get a hold of some of the products, like steel, because of the war going on. Some of the pipe constructed was less thick, and sometimes you have more problems with that. I've seen some pipe that was probably 80 years old that looked just as good as it did when it was put in, and there's been pipe that was maybe put in in the late '40s that was just eaten away that we have to repair."

Counting the cost

As with other forms of infrastructure, one issue that often arises is the high cost of materials and labor when it comes to updates. This concern is compounded by the fact that there is so much pipe to maintain. Continental has a current population of just over 1,100 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and the village's water department is responsible for maintaining roughly 70,000 feet of distribution pipe, according to Leis.

"I just got prices on that [1,500-foot] line, and for the prices of just material, we're talking north of $30,000," he said. "That's not talking about finding a contractor to come in, and there's no telling how expensive that could be, given today's economy."

The Lima utilities department is working with Degan Excavating to lay a new water main line on Calumet Avenue from East Kibby Street up to Linden Street, with Degan winning the contract with a bid of $317,000. This did not include material costs, since the city already had the ductile iron pipe needed for the project.

"It was less expensive because you didn't have any houses on the east side of the street with the [Freedom Elementary] school there," Caprella said. "So you probably have half as many taps to make."

With a network of water lines stretching from north of Cairo to the Auglaize County line and from west of Elida to Harrod and Lafayette, Lima's water delivery infrastructure includes about 500 miles of buried pipe, Caprella said, with some of that infrastructure dating back over 100 years. With the city dedicating $40 million annually to the utilities department, Caprella said the city has been able to meet the need so far when it comes to maintenance and adhering to guidelines set by the federal and state Environmental Protection Agencies.

For smaller communities, however, it can often be a balancing act when it comes to using available funds and resources the most effectively without breaking the bank.

"Some municipalities are fortunate to have more funding, depending on the amount of residents they have or what their tax revenue is," Suever said. "It's kind of common in the water world to have an issue here or there, but if you start having more, like if you take a line where you've had half a dozen water leaks on it in the last two or three or four years, it's probably time to start considering a replacement."

That kind of endeavor takes deliberate planning, Suever said, working with such entities as regional planning commissions and working to obtain government funding like community development block grants or working with the Ohio Public Works Commission. Another example is the Ohio BUILDS Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Grant through the Ohio Department of Development, whose most recent allocations in May included $3 million to the city of Wapakoneta to improve its industrial park's water distribution system and $500,000 to the village of Pandora to fill in the funding gap for a new 200,000-gallon elevated water tank to replace its current 100,000-gallon tank that is currently deteriorating.

As communities work for those funds, however, they must also do their best to navigate their way through the immediate needs for its infrastructure as best as it can.

"If a small municipality has, hypothetically, $1 million sitting in the bank but they need $1 million for a project — I mean, there might be three miles of pipe that need to be done — they're not going to be able to do that," Suever said. "It goes again into planning and being adamant about getting out there and reviewing the financial needs and try and get as many [projects] in as possible."

"It's going to keep running," Leis said. "You've always got somebody down in the ground working on stuff. I don't see it coming to the point of absolute no return. You do your best to make sure everything's running, and you have to play the cards you're dealt."