Temporary Water Shutoffs For Vital Arcata Waterline Improvements

New Pipe Installation

Press release from City of Arcata:

The Steel Waterline Replacement Project is continuing in Arcata and may cause disruptions to water usage for residents.

McCullough Construction, Inc (MCI) has made significant progress on the City of Arcata Steel Waterline Replacement Project and work is beginning in central Arcata. The City recognizes that water shutoffs affect the day-to-day life, business and livelihoods of our community members and is committed to minimizing disruptions. Advance notice of the planned construction activities and scheduled water shutoffs that may directly affect residents and businesses will be provided. These disruptions are necessary to facilitate the replacement of the City’s aging water infrastructure, particularly targeting remaining sections of steel waterlines.

Past city engineering records show steel waterlines failing, with replacement efforts starting in the 1960s, and that the waterlines are now far beyond their service life. Leakage losses and catastrophic failures from aging water infrastructure is an ongoing cost to the City’s taxpayers and can cause unforeseen budget impacts. When emergency patch repairs are made, the sections that fail cannot be fully replaced. Leaks and failures in the system can also affect first responders’ capability to protect residents and property in a fire event.

The project consists of the following phases:

Notification of Work and Parking Closures

MCI representatives will set out barricades or cones to identify where parking will be closed, notify property owners of the upcoming work and request authorization to make a temporary water connection to facilitate work two days prior to the start. They will return to retrieve the executed authorization form.

Temporary Waterline

MCI will build a temporary waterline along the curb and connect a temporary water service to enable residents and businesses to continue to have water while the existing watermain is replaced underground. The temporary waterline follows the same disinfection and sanitation procedure as a new watermain including water sampling to ensure proper chlorine concentration and bacteriological testing. During this process there will be a one-to-two-hour water service interruption within an anticipated four hour window. Notification will be provided three days ahead of the proposed interruption.

This process is anticipated to take three to five working days.

Valve Cluster Replacement

The watermain control valve clusters at the intersection will be replaced. This process is anticipated to take two to three working days at each intersection and will affect traffic circulation at impacted intersections.

Waterline Replacement and Service Reconnection

Upon replacement of the watermain valves, the contractor will proceed with excavation of the streets to install the watermain and re-connect services. This is anticipated to take five to seven working days per block. After installation, the trench is backfilled to surface elevation.

Water Meter Box Installation and Concrete Replacement

Water meter boxes will be set over the services and sidewalk will be poured back. This process is expected to take three days per block.

Temporary Waterline Removal

The temporary waterline installed at the curbline will be removed. This process is anticipated to take approximately two working days per block.

Paving

The trench in the street will be ground down to a three inches depth and paved back with asphalt. This process will take approximately two to three working days per block.

During the course of the project there may be emergency scenarios that require a longer water system shutdown than anticipated. This can be due to failures in existing control valves used to isolate the project, unforeseen ground conditions, and other factors outside of the City of Arcata or contractor’s control. The City will notify impacted citizens as soon as possible in those circumstances.

Please contact the City of Arcata Engineering department at (707) 825-2128 with any questions regarding the project and its impacts. Impacts for temporary water typically extend one additional City block from the area of work.