A massive water main replacement project will begin in Newport later this summer.
“This is the largest water main replacement project that we have done in the city of Newport ever,” President and CEO of the Northern Kentucky Water District Lindsey Rechtin told the Newport Board of Commissioners on Monday.
The roughly $11.7 million project will replace over five miles of water mains throughout the city. It will be split into four phases, represented in the map below, and is estimated to take just under two and a half years.
About $8.5 million of the money for the project will come from grants and loans with forgivable principal issued through both the Campbell County Fiscal Court and the federal government.
The project dates back to 2010 when the water district and the city’s fire department began coordinating to develop a list of possible projects that might be eligible for grant funding. The project will also see the replacement of up to 495 old lead service lines, paid for with the grant funding. The water district has already started contacting affected property owners in the project’s first two phases to work things out.
The replacement pipes will be made of K-type copper. Contractors will replace the old lead pipes using a cable-pull method whereby a cable is inserted into the old infrastructure and then attached to copper replacement coil. An excavator then pulls the cable and pipes through the established channel, extricating the old pipe before connecting the new pipe to the water main.
Watch the video below for a short demonstration of the process.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission has already approved the first two of the project’s four phases, which are expected to begin in about a month.
Customers can opt out of the work if they like, but usually, lead pipe replacement on private property is the responsibility of the property owner, rather than the water district. As such, both Newport commission members and representatives from the district encouraged residents to take up the offer if contacted.
“People should be aware that it’s quite a big deal for Northern Kentucky Water District to pay for this,” said Newport Board of Commissioners Member Ken Rechtin.
The water district’s Vice President of Engineering and Distribution, Richard Harrison, said a typical lead service line replacement can cost a property owner as much as $10,000 out of pocket. District representatives said they had secured about 20 affirmative agreements from property owners thus far.
The district asked the city for help in communicating with affected residents about the project. It has already sent out letters, conducted door-to-door knocking campaigns, made phone calls to affected residents and pitched the idea of possibly holding town halls at the city building in the future.
Harrison said that the affected properties were chosen due to their age.
“These lines are 80 to 120 years old, and they have build up,” Harrison said. “So, these were selected because they have very low flow. They’re in poor condition. They have incidents of breaks.”
Contractors will perform the work through trenchless construction methods whenever possible and will provide all labor, equipment, and materials, including the re-installation of indoor electrical grounding if necessary.
If the property owner agrees to have their lines replaced, they must make things accessible for the workers by removing obstacles, furniture, paneling, stored items and so on (the water district will not be liable for damage to obstacles). The amount of time the work takes will vary from property to property.
There is a two-year repair warranty after the work is complete, but customers are responsible for maintaining the new pipes after the warranty period expires.
“It was very important to make sure that we included extra time to provide comfort in making sure that the contractor will come back to fix anything that is damaged,” Harrison said, “whether it’s sealing or any of the concrete work that has to be done.”
The water district will continue to contact affected property owners as the project progresses. District representatives are encouraged to report their service line materials to the district so that it can update its service inventory.
You can learn about the district’s lead service line inventory, including how to identify your service line material, by reading our previous coverage. You can find out how to report your service line materials to the Water District at nkywater.org/208/Service-Line-Material-Inventory-Map