The Price City Council took time to focus on the spring water transmission line during their Wednesday evening meeting, beginning with a discussion on the easement data search.
Miles Nelson, Public Works Director for the city, explained that the spring line is 95 years old and he doubted that any kind of easements were established because, at that time, it was private property. Currently, they are working to verify if there are easements.
Price Mayor Mike Kourianos said that this is critical and all part of the process. The transmission lines are at risk and the consultant has given two years before failure.
With that having been said, it was then explained that this is the start of the process and Mayor Kourianos had gone with former Councilman Rick Davis and some workers to patch a line previously.
“This is critical to the citizens of Price,” Mayor Kourianos stated, before it was explained that these are efforts to try and minimize the impact.
In regard to the spring water transmission line replacement alignment investigation, Nelson stated that whether the easements are determined or not, the feasibility to dig up parallel lines must be looked at.
In that area, they will be digging at mountainous, rocky terrain. Johansen and Tuttle Engineering has been asked to do an assessment which will evaluate the feasibility. If it is not, they will have to work where the line is currently. Councilwoman Terry Willis explained that if they are required to bury in the same place, they will have to turn the water off completely.
This complicates the matter and Councilwoman Willis acknowledged that there are a lot of moving parts, which is why they want to look in every direction possible before moving forward.
The city has aging infrastructure that has to be addressed and they wish to do so at minimal cost to the tax payers, but with as little disruption as possible as well.
The research and easement data will be done by Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services (AE2S) and the cost of service is not to exceed $11,200. For the work done by Johansen and Tuttle, the estimated cost of the project is $35,274.
The source of funding for the project will be a portion of the remaining funds from the initial transmission line condition study. Both were approved by the council.