The State of Michigan has mandated that all water suppliers, including the City of Pleasant Ridge, must complete a detailed water distribution system material inventory. A water system our size must inventory 20% of all unknown water service lines in the community, which ends up being 224 addresses for us.
The addresses were selected using a random process per State rules. The number of sampling sites is sufficient to provide a statistically valid estimate of the number of lead, copper, or other service lines across our entire water system.
Notification letters were sent to addresses where we will be completing a verification a few weeks ago. The stop box locations at all addresses where this project will occur have been marked, so when you are seeing blue paint and/or flags in many locations around town, this is most likely the reason.
Work on this project will begin on January 24, and will continue until complete. We expect that the project will take 3 or 4 weeks to wrap up. Disruption should be minimal, as the work only requires one truck with a trailer. All streets will remain open during the project. Bidigare Construction is the contractor who will be doing the work.
The process to complete the inventory involves digging a small hole, about 1 foot in diameter, on either side of the sidewalk so that we can visually inspect the service line at two locations: 1) between the water main and the stop box, and 2) between the stop box and the building.
The hole is dug using a hydroexcavating process where pressurized water loosens the soil which is vacuumed out by the vactor truck. The resulting hole is very small, and the contractor will make every effort to avoid having to remove any concrete. The photo at right is representative of the work that will be completed. Restoration will be done by the contractor this coming spring.
