The Crookston Water Department is replacing the water main on 5th Ave South off South Main Street. The water main in that area has produced several leaks over the past couple of years according to Water Department Superintendent Brandon Carlson. “We’re on 5th Ave South replacing some water main,” said Carlson. “We’ve had quite a few leaks on these two blocks over the years, so it’s time to replace the main. Its old six-inch cast iron we’re replacing with six-inch PVC and new service lines up to the shutoffs as well.”
Carlson said only a small part of the town has been upgraded to PVC thus far and the water department replaces the water mains as issues arise. “Maybe about one-third of the town is PVC now,” said Carlson. “We keep jumping spot to spot. Wherever the hot spot is we hit and try to stay ahead of the bad spots.”
Replacing the water main takes about one week per city block. That can vary based on wiring and other obstacles on a particular block. “A week is probably typical,” said Carlson. “This is only the second day on this block. If we hadn’t had rain, we probably would’ve gotten done with this block in about three days. I guess we did get done in three days, but we couldn’t work two of the days [this week]. It’s probably typically about a week. This area is pretty good. There aren’t a lot of wires in our way, so it’s pretty open digging.”
