Recently a homeowner was issued a DEP 3 day notice after reporting water coming up in the roadway near their house. The homeowner made an innocent call to 311 never thinking that it would result in the city requiring them to spend thousands of dollars to replace their water line. The DEP field crew who issued the 3 day notice suggested that the homeowner get a quote from three companies before making a decision on who would be replacing the water line. Like many homeowners, they decided to research the internet and schedule an appointment to obtain a free estimate for replacing the water line.
Leak in roadway
By the time Harris Water arrived to the house the owner was frantic as she had become aware of the cost associated with replacing her water line. One of the largest factors considered when calculating the cost is the distance of the house to the city water main. Most of the time this can be determined by which side of the street the fire hydrant is located on, the city water main is usually located within 4-7’ of the curb line holding the hydrant. The hydrant was on the opposite side of the street totaling almost 100’ of new pipe that had to be replaced, a job like this could easily cost over five thousand dollars.
After the Harris representative did his research on the existing conditions, he was able to provide a second and more cost effective option that had not been mentioned to the homeowner. Due to the location of the water coming up in the roadway, he had reason to believe that it was only the valve connecting her water main to the city water main that was leaking and a less costly repair may easily resolve the DEP 3 day notice. There were two primary factors that allowed Harris to provide this as an option; one was the existing material of the water line. If the water main was made of lead or galvanized pipe, there would be no option but to replace the entire main as it is illegal to perform a repair on this type of pipe. The existing pipe in this case was made of “k” grade copper. The second was the age of the existing pipe; the pipe was only 6 years old which is considered a new pipe and would be rare if there was a break in the pipe itself.
Pumping water |
Street Elbow, Tap & Washer |
Harris was at the house the next morning as they prepared to excavate one hole in the roadway located almost 100’ from the house. After 2 hours of digging in the roadway and pumping water out of the hole, it turned out that the initial observation made was accurate and the only issue was the connection of the homeowner’s copper pipe to the city water main. The on-site plumber installed a new “street elbow” and washer to replace the existing and re-connected the existing copper water main to the city tap connection.
Harris Water Main & Sewer Contractors was able to save the homeowner thousands of dollars while relieving her overwhelming financial concerns, as well as her fear that the DEP would turn off her water supply as she failed to comply with the 3 day notice.
