By Stephen Smoot
Over the past two weeks, many Wardensville residents already beleaguered with water service questions have faced service issues from water and sewer malfunctions.
On Jan 14, the Town of Wardensville announced that a six foot “utility main line break has been found on Sandfield Road. A Facebook post stated that “all of the homes on Sandfield Road, Ward Street, and Sandfield Lane will be without water until the damaged line can be repaired.
It added that the Town would dispatch crews at 8 a.m. the next day to repair the line. They went on to state that repair of the line would not affect the general boil water notice under which the Town must operate for the time being.
“We know there is a boil water notice in effect. We are following the protocols. A CallFire Alert is in progress,” it closed. The next day, the Town reported completion of the work and advised residents to “let the water run to get the air out of the line for a few minutes,” if that was an issue.
A more serious issue hit the Pine Street Lift Station late last week. An alarm sounded to alert officials that the two grinder pumps used by the station had become clogged to the point that the system failed. “One pump is damaged beyond repair,” shared the Town Facebook page, “and the second may be salvageable.” Additionally, “the lift pit had to be pumped.” This station “pulls from Honeysuckle Lane to the bridge.”
The total potential cost will be $511 to pump the pit and $7,672.68 for two new grinder pumps.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency published a “Disposable Wipes Toolkit: Persuading People Not to Flush.” It stated that “flushing them is like flushing a handkerchief or some other item made of cloth” because they “don’t degrade in the system.” Additionally “they gum up the system, clog pipes and pumps, and cost taxpayers and residents lots of money in additional maintenance costs.”
In other words, flushing such wipes has just as much possibility to cause damage to residential plumbing as to the sewage system.
The City of Raleigh, North Carolina, reported in 2023 that “they get stuck in bends of pipes or cling to grease buildup, causing clogs that lead to backups and/or spills.” They spent nearly $110,000 in 2019 on repairing such damage prior to starting a public education campaign.
Consumer Reports last March also reported that according to “an estimate by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) wipes result in an additional $441 million a year in operating costs for U.S. clean water utilities.”
The Town of Wardensville has a request to those who have been doing this, “we ask that folks do not flush these wipes. They cause damage.”
