WALSENBURG — A water line incident caused by the fast moving storm Friday evening into Saturday morning disrupted water service to residents and businesses located north of the Hwy 85/87 bridge where CDOT work is ongoing. Walsenburg City Administrator David Johnston said, “The heavy snow overnight and the rapid melting throughout today (Saturday, March 8) resulting in the first water stream in the Pictou Arroyo in recent memory. As a result, a water line was breached in the construction area and customers north of the bridge-construction (including the airport) are without water”. Johnston said customers south of the bridge were not affected. The interruption was reported at approximately 1:30 pm on Saturday and Johnston said service had been restored by 10:30 pm. He said city water department personnel met with contractors on the bridge project Monday to finalize a plan of action. The rain Friday, made the excavation site unsafe and
the following day’s snowmelt raised the new 8 inch (empty) line and caused at least one valve to malfunction. In a weekly memo to city council members, Johnston reported, “It was hoped that installation of the permanent 8″ line would have been completed today (Friday), but rain on the bentonite prevented installation of the last 10 feet of pipe”.
