When the Roanoke Rapids Fire Department did its hydrant flushing earlier this year, 15 were found to have unacceptable flows for firefighting and were bagged.
After further investigation by the Roanoke Rapids Sanitary District, eight of the hydrants had the bags removed after valves were opened or repaired, its CEO, Dan Brown, said this morning.
Fire Chief Gary Corbet said Wednesday the fire department continues to work with the district on the problems and until the problems are fixed is having Davie and Gaston volunteer fire department tankers dispatched to areas where there are low flows.
The problems with the hydrants are a symptom of a larger problem within the system itself, Brown said, explaining they are located in older areas of the city where older lines are located. “We've got seven with insufficient flows. We hope to whittle it down by the end of the summer where all bags will be off.”
One of the latest projects was at 10th Street near Oscars where it was discovered two lines crossed over each other. The district joined the lines, work that should offer more fire flow in that area. “That was really the first step in our rehabilitation plan,” Brown said.
Since the problem with seven of the 727 hydrants in the city is linked to the problems with older lines, the district has budgeted $1 million for the fiscal year beginning Friday as part of a 20-year rehabilitation program to address an aging system.
Allocated in the upcoming fiscal year's financial plan is $850,000 in construction funds and another $158,000 for design. Should the district secure grants or low interest loans for the first year of the project, then some of the budgeted money won't be spent, Brown said.
Areas included in the first phase encompass a swath from Marshall to Rapids streets, the area to the railroad crossing at 10th Street and then to the railroad junction at KapStone. “From 1st to 14th street and areas around the rec are the oldest parts of town,” Brown said. “The lines were built in 30s. We're seeing problems with lines broken. The primary focus will be in the older parts of town.”
Brown describes the rehabilitation project as a serious undertaking with the upcoming fiscal year plan addressing about a mile and two-thirds of water lines.
It will be a project which addresses cleaning out old pipes and rehabilitating them by running new lines in them. “This plan looks at addressing galvanized pipe. They have a lot of breaks in them,” Brown said. “We've been working on that for several years.”
The $1 million budgeted also includes work on lines in Gaston around the Highway 46 west area to improve fire flow there. It also includes a $175,000 job in Roanoke Rapids from Ransome Street to Bolling Road for fire flow improvements.
“We've got 727 hydrants. Having seven bagged is not bad,” Brown said, emphasizing, however, “We don't want any bagged.”
