Virginia Graziani

Redwood Times

Engineers for the Kimtu drinking water pipeline project are working with the contractors and the county to solve issues that are causing delays in completion of the new water line, which will bring water treated by Garberville Sanitary District to the 20 homes in the subdivision at the end of Kimtu Road.

According to Marty Messenger, Southern Humboldt County Roads Department supervisor, drainage ditches alongside the road must be kept clear so that they can be cleaned with equipment as needed.

”Appurtenances” such as valves that relieve pressure in the lines must be either moved out of the ditches or protected so that they will not be harmed by equipment.

Some portions of the pipeline will be relocated away from the ditches and in other places improvements will be made to protect the appurtenances, said Leonard Osborne, president and principal engineer of LACO Engineers of Eureka, who designed the project.

For example, one solution is to install concrete line drainages that will keep weeds from growing close to the appurtenances so those portions of the ditch will not need to be cleaned.

Another problem is the potential loss of the water main on upper Sprowel Creek Road if the slide, which was repaired towards the end of last year, should move due to “creep.” If the pipeline is broken or dislodged, Garberville Sanitary District could lose as much as 200,000 gallons of water almost instantly.

LACO is considering either installing flexible pipe at the slide site, allowing the pipe to move in response to ground movement, or placing that section of the pipe higher than the part of the ground that is subject to motion.

The engineers have submitted their concepts to the county Department of Public Works. When the county gives its approval, LACO will ask the contractor, Wahlund Construction, to estimate the cost of the improvements.

LACO will then submit those costs to the California Department of Public Health, which is the funder and lead agency on the Kimtu project. Osborne could not say how long this process will take, but the work will begin as soon as CDPH gives its go-ahead.

The Kimtu subdivision has been under a CDPH boil-water order for several years because of deficiencies in both the quality and quantity of water currently supplied by the Kimtu Mutual Water Company from an intake in the South Fork Eel River.

Once the new pipeline is complete and its construction approved by Garberville Sanitary District, which will provide the water, CDPH will give ownership to GSD. Kimtu residents will then pay GSD for water like all other residences with GSD water service.

Osborne praised everyone involved, including the contractors, the Department of Public Works, GSD, and the Kimtu residents for their cooperation, saying everyone had been great to work with.. “[Kimtu] will have a heck of a good water system when this is done,” he said.