Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Draining likely source of leaks throughout Ironwood
STACEY MILLER, with Ruotsala Construction, uses an excavator to deposit a load of dirt while repairing a water leak Thursday on the 300 block of Arch Street in Ironwood between the U.S. 2 Business Route and East Frederick Street.
By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood - The inspection of the city of Ironwood's water tank on Mt. Zion found no issues and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality gave the go-ahead to begin refilling the tank. That's the good news.
The bad news is the process of draining the water tank so it can be inspected is likely the cause of numerous water leaks throughout the city Wednesday and Thursday.
"We have guys trying to take a peek in the tank and trying to put it back into service. And at the same time, we have crews trying to fix watermain breaks," utilities manager Bob Tervonen said Thursday morning.
The city took the 2.5-million-gallon tank off line Monday after a routine inspection that day showed three locks had been removed from the tank.
Tervonen said the unauthorized removal of the locks is considered tampering with a public utility and is a federal crime. While there are no cameras at the top of Mt. Zion, Tervonen said that would likely be part of future discussions.
The city spent two days draining the tank as a precaution so it could be inspected to ensure the water hadn't be contaminated or tampered with somehow.
"The ... samples we got back from the lab were fine, we did a visual inspection and there was nothing wrong, so we got the green light from the DEQ," Tervonen said later Thursday. "We've been working alongside the DEQ and they gave us the green light to fill it up."
While there were no issues with the tank, the process is the likely cause of problems elsewhere.
Roughly 10 leaks sprung up everywhere from Country Club Road to the area around Riverside Cemetery Wednesday and Thursday. Tervonen said this was likely due to the change in water pressure that resulted from draining the tank breaking through weak spots in the galvanized lines that make up parts of the system.
"You'd think there's a relationship there, I mean they all popped up at once," he said.
Tervonen explained the city uses its high-lift pumps to push the water out of the tank at roughly 240 pounds per square inch and then reduces the pressure once the water gets into town.
"We trying to maintain a pressure of 100 PSI or less, otherwise you're going to blow faucets off," Tervonen said.
He said small pressure changes, even as little as 5 to 8 PSI, could lead to the leaks.
"That little bit can change everything," Tervonen said.
Given the manpower needed to fix the various leaks and deal with the work on the tank itself, Tervonen said Ruotsala Construction was helping the city repair the leaks.
Along with the leaks, Tervonen said the city has had complaints of dirty, discolored water. Almost all came from south of U.S. 2, according to Tervonen, who said much of the discoloration was caused by main valves being turned off to fix the leaks.
"Everything is looking positive so I'm happy with that," Tervonen said. "It's an inconvenience for everybody, I understand it. Everybody has been really patient."
He said the tank was being filled Thursday and he hoped it would return to service sometime today.
The tank was taken out of service in the late 1980s for cleaning, according to Tervonen, and similar problems likely occurred then.
It hasn't been taken out of service in the 25 years Tervonen worked for the city, as he said scuba divers had been used to clean it when needed.
