Water is back on all over the valley.  Again, thank you to all of the residents who were without water.  And although it is inadequate, we apologize that this happened and was such an inconvenience.  This was not a planned event.  Thank you to all the other users of the water system for conserving water.  Thank you to Price City Public Works and Price City Fire Department, Helper City Fire Department, and Wellington City Fire Department.  Thank you to Carbon County Road Department and Emergency Management.  Thank you to UDOT and the State of Utah along with Southeastern Utah Health District.  And thank you for all of the outpouring of support for our employees.  Thank you to NELCO, Water & Waste Logistics, Walmart, and Sutherlands.  And anyone else that we have inadvertently forgotten at this point, sorry about that.
 
Lastly, a big thanks goes to the employees and their families for such a willingness to respond to the emergency at the sacrifice of family time and activities.

We’ve had a bit of a setback.  There are large quantities of air trapped in the main line that we are finding difficult to remove.  This prevents water from flowing over the high points in the system.  Basically, we need to get the water line to burp.
 
Our crews are still out and will remain working on getting the flow moving as quickly as possible.
 
You will notice when water gets to your home that there will be a lot of air for the first while.  Also, the water may appear cloudy or milky.  The water is and will be safe to drink, but air dissolves into the water creating the cloudiness or milky appearance.  If you set a glass of water out for a few minutes, you will see it clear by itself.  The best course of action is to fill a pitcher and put it in the refrigerator.  When you want a drink, the water will be clear.

The newly repaired water line is currently holding approximately 70 psi. and is in the final stages of corrosion control wrapping.  Then the line will be back-filled to a depth of 3-4 feet to ensure that the pressure doesn’t damage the line from within.  Then the line will be fully charged to operating pressures.  Chlorination, flushing, sampling, and testing will all be done thereafter and almost simultaneously.  We are hoping to restore flow by 6:00 p.m. but fully functional pressure zones may take adjustments through the night as these need to be done slowly and carefully to prevent damage.

The damaged pipe is out of the ground and a replacement piece is being delivered and installed.  We have met with representatives from Public Health and Division of Drinking Water to ensure sampling integrity and safety of the water supply.  We will be disinfecting all parts being installed and adding chlorine to the water line as well.  Then we will flush the main to both get rid of the chlorine and freshen the water being distributed.
 
By adding the third pumping site, we have been able to get water into the Four-Mile tank meaning the south end of the valley is in better shape.  Water conservation is still needed for a few more hours as we try to fill this tank.
 
Thank you to so many of our customers and those from the community.  Our crews have received many “thank you”s verbally or delivered cookies/doughnuts/pizza. 

Fairgrounds Road is open to traffic north and south.  There is a mound of dirt by the surgical center protecting the pipe that Price City Fire is pumping water to the system through.  Helper City Fire is also on duty pumping water into the system as of this morning about 10:00 a.m.  Wellington City will be starting to pump water into the system as well either late tonight or in the morning.  All of these efforts should relieve the water need to most residents.
 
Carbonville is a more difficult proposition.  We have a fresh water station available to anyone needing water located near 2397 North Carbonville Road.  It is a large blue tank with “Potable Water” signs.  It’s not pressurized but it’s good for filling water containers.  We will have a second location by tomorrow.  We truly can think of no way to get water between 1700 North and Consumer’s Road.  Again, we apologize.
 
At the site, we have received new trenching and shoring equipment.  It is being assembled immediately and put into service.  We have terraced the highway side of the trench and closed the right-most southbound lane on Highway 6 for safety concerns.  Also, we are working with EmeryTelcom to preserve their communications fiber optics.
 
Pictures to follow.












The Price River Water Improvement District and its customers have received a generous gift from Wal-Mart in the form of cases of bottled water which we will make available to those homes affected by the current water crisis.  The amount of water is limited and will become available to those affected households beginning Wednesday April 18 at 9:00.  Please be respectful and allow those households that are affected receive this benefit.
 
This in no way implies that the water is unsafe to drink.  We have been working with public health and representatives of the Utah Division of Drinking Water to sample and test the water to ensure public health and safety.
 
The latest report from the project is that the new trench boxes have arrived and the new excavation techniques seem to be successful (fingers crossed).  We expect to start cutting out the damaged section of line tonight.  We get another update in the morning.
 
Also, we started a third location pumping water into the system tonight.  Still not able to feed north Carbonville, Gordon Creek, Hill Subdivision, or those on Consumers Road.

Price City has generously offered water to those who need it. Individuals can take 5-gallon jugs or containers to Pioneer Park and fill them there.
The Address is 100 East 550 North.
Price, UT 84501
 
In addition, for owners of livestock who wish to fill tanks, they can go to Price City Domes and fill there, they have a 2-inch line hookup.  (Between the hours of 7am and 4pm)
The Address is 432 W 600 S.
Price, UT 84501
 
PRWID has a water haul station in Wellington for larger users.
The Address 5382 E washer Plant RD
Wellington, UT 84542

The Price River Water Improvement District has been working around the clock for the past 72 hours because of numerous critical leaks to the culinary water system. The District has enlisted the help of Price City in trying to provide emergency interconnections to the District's system and the City has responded generously. The District is asking all its customers to curtail their water use as much as possible to help the system not run out of water over the next few days.
Announcements will be made when the emergency is over.
 
 
We apologize as we know the great inconvenience this places on everyone. The District will continue to work diligently to fix the leaks.
 
 
Signed,
Jeff Richens, District Manager
Price River Water Improvement District



PRWID and Price City have an emergency interconnect on fairgrounds road necessitating the closure of that road between the Castleview Surgical Center and Dr. Blaine Jackson’s dental practice.  The surgical center can be accessed from Highway 10 onto Fairgrounds Road and Dr. Jackson’s office can be accessed from Westwood Blvd. and Fairgrounds Road.



PRWID has found the pipe that was leaking.  However, it is 28 feet deep and we are in the process of getting trench boxes from upstate for the safety of the employees that will be tasked with fixing the line.   Working at these depths without adequate protection is asking to kill someone, as you may recall from recent stories in the news from upstate.

4/17/2018
 District crews have continued working through the night on the leak. Trench boxes were set, but a cave in of the high side crashed them out of alignment resulting in starting over. Boxes were pulled. Debris removed. Boxes are nearly set but condition are not improving. Excavator company expressed concern about safety. At this time we'll need input from UDOT. We may still be at this for two days.



The right hand, southbound lane on highway 6, will be closed to bring in 2 times the amount of equipment that we currently have on site.  We are coordinating with Carbon County Emergency Management, Carbon County, Price City, Helper City.
We plant to get locations set up so there will be a fresh water station for customers to get water.  We will notify everyone when and where those will be located.