Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
HARRINGTON — The city’s piping and water system is, in many locations, of old age. And that fact began to rear its head with January’s major freeze followed by unseasonably warm temperatures.
Three water leaks sprung up around the city in the last two weeks of January, but two had been mended by press time, Mayor Joe Armand said.
The first leak came at the City Park public restrooms after mid-month’s deep freeze, when a commode was damaged beyond repair.
“The problem was it was just too bloody cold,” Armand said. “We lost one commode. The pipes are fine.”
Armand said that leak won’t be repaired until warmer temperatures settle in consistently around springtime to avoid a potential refreeze during “second winter” in February.
On Jan. 18, a new water leak sprung up on South First Street by Harrington School after a supply pipe cracked.
“Old age caused that,” Armand said. “Fortunately, it was a supply pipe, not a water main. It was within 18 to 20 inches of the surface.”
That leak was fixed by the end of the week, he said.
In a similar time span, a 2-year sage of putting a new water main on Willis Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets came to an end.
“There is some clean up to do, damage to repair and equipment to recover, but tonight water is no longer pumping out of some very old pipes,” Armand said in a Facebook post Friday, Jan. 26.
Just as that main was installed, a new water leak popped up at the gazebo on Third and Sherlock Streets last weekend.
“That was a line we repaired after New Year,” Armand said. “The repair was fine, but with the ground settling and freezing, then melting, Mother Earth just separated it.”
The leak was fixed Monday, Jan. 29, Armand said.
New public works employee hired
Aiding in leak repair was the city’s new public works employee. Ken King of Harrington was hired away from a career in private construction and replaces Troy Crawford, who left the position in December.
“He has experience dealing with infrastructures and wastewater treatment plants,” Armand said.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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