Bypass water line in ‘Butte

By Kathy Bly
For the Sunny South News

Residents of Picture Butte will be supplied with water via a bypass line, for about a week, while repairs are made to a distribution line. Interim Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Davis, told Picture Butte town council last Monday the main distribution line that supplies the town from its water storage at the former water treatment plant developed a major leak. It was quickly repaired but the fix is only temporarily. “It’s the actual pipe inside the water treatment plant,” noted Davis.
Due to the location of the line, within the water storage tank, a permanent repair had to be scheduled and will require the town to bypass the water storage facility while the repairs are underway. The town’s water plant is no longer used to treat the town’s water.
Picture Butte is supplied with municipal water via a pipeline from the City of Lethbridge. The former treatment plant is now used as a water storage facility, to provide the town with both localized storage capacity and pumping ability should problems arise with the city water or the pipeline.
Davis said in order to make the repairs at the water plant, a six-inch temporary water line will be installed between two fire hydrants, before and after the plant.
In order to accommodate the line’s location, the town will be shutting down access to Crescent Avenue from Highway 25 on the west end of town for about a week.
Davis said the work is expected to begin tomorrow and should be completed before Jan. 30. The temporary water line bypass will provide Picture Butte with municipal water and should be able to maintain the town’s water pressure.
“The engineers have run models,” said Davis, to test the ability of the temporary line and the pressure of the water coming in from Diamond City to continue to meet Picture Butte’s needs during the repair.
“Once it is up and running, we will be monitoring that,” he said. “It should be everything as normal.”
Davis said the town hopes to avoid having to ask high water users to reduce their water use while the repair work is underway. It is estimated the repair will cost the town about $30,000.
Because the pipeline is located within a storage tank, it will have to be jackhammered out before the pipe can be replaced. The storage tank will also have to be cleaned up before it can be used to store treated water and water testing will have to be completed before the bypass line is shut down.