SASKATOON – The City of Saskatoon has invested $10.6 million on water and sewer upgrades during 2014.
The upgrades included rehabilitating just over six kilometres of water mains and almost eight kilometres of storm and sanitary sewers.
“We give priority to those water and sewer mains that have a high break history, in an effort to minimize the potential for future breaks,” explained Chris Hallam, director of construction and design for the city.
“Although these upgrade are not as visible as road improvement, they are important in maintaining a high quality of infrastructure for our residents.”
Crews are using technology that involves lining the existing pipes with an inner pipe, which city officials say has worked well to extend the service life of a main.
“That means we get more pipes fixed, that means less pipes break in the future,” said Hallam.
Using this trenchless method means roads don’t have to be torn up as access pits are dug at either end of the pipe which Hallam said is most cost effective and less disruptive.
“If we can get the work done without impacting motorists, that’s a goal of ours, to make sure that we are always keeping traffic flowing around these work zones.”
Officials said the upgrades also involve lead connection replacements, storm and sanitary manhole rehabilitation and sanitary connection replacements.
The upgrades are expected to be completed by the end of September.
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