Perry officials looking for solutions to handle water main breakage

City of Perry officials are attempting to handle issues with water main breakage in the New Haven and Stonebridge neighborhoods after a water valve issue and a boil advisory were announced Friday, according to City Manager Lee Gilmour.

“Council authorized with the proceeding of installation of cut-off valves so if you were to have a break in the line, it would not affect as many customers,” Gilmour said. “During the installation of one of those valves, there was a pipe failure on Friday, and consequently, we had to go back in and cut off the water to the [Stonebridge] subdivision so that break in the line could be repaired.”

January 7, City of Perry Government wrote the damage to the water main was causing water pressure to drop significantly, posing potential health hazards for residents in that area. A boil advisory was placed over the area for 24 hours while personnel with ESG Operations, Inc. — a waste management company — ran bacteria testing.

At the meeting of Perry Mayor and Council back on December 7, 2021 and following some more recent incidents with the water mains, council approved city staff to complete looping and valving water mains through the Sadie Heights subdivision currently under construction off Kings Chapel Road near New Haven and Stonebridge. Staff members were also directed to install additional isolation valves ($2,500 each) to reduce the number of customers affected by a break repair.

A December 6 memo from the Office of the City Manager to mayor and council stated the New Haven and Stonebridge neighborhoods are supplied water from Houston County’s system at 90 psi, while the city of Perry usually pumps at a rate of 58-60 psi.

“The primary problem is that for a very small time, council had authorized the installation of water pipe that does not hold up relative to the pressure that’s provided from the county,” Gilmour said. “That was quickly corrected, but you still have those two subdivisions which were impacted by it. So on occasion, [with] the water flow and the pressure, you may get a break.”

Council has discussed potential options to handle this, ranging from fixing the breaks as they happen to spending around $2 million to replace all the pipe.

Gilmour said the city will continue its work to install the looping process for the water in Sadie Heights, with it running to New Haven and Stonebridge in the Kings Chapel Road area. The installation of isolation valves will also continue to have access to shut down the water to a specific area of a neighborhood if the need arises.

“As it stands right now, you have that water pressure coming in, and it is not able to loop or free — and so consequently, when you have customers make drawing on the water, it can cause a hammering effect, and that’s what causes problems with the pipe,” Gilmour said.

The looping system should be complete in less than a month, and it’ll come at no cost to the city since the neighborhood developers would be funding the project, he said.

According to the City of Perry website, the Customer Service Department sends important customer information (such as boil water advisories) through text messages. Contact Customer Service by calling (478) 988-2754 or email Customer.Service@perry-ga.gov to update your contact information.

HHJ News