$1.2M Project To Upgrade North Overton System

The North Overton Utility District is upgrading some 18,000 feet of water lines to prevent widespread outages across its service area.

North Overton Utility Office Manager Jane Ray said the district has been trying to get this project done for years. Ray said it will happen thanks to state American Rescue Plan grant. Ray said the project will make connections between lines, and help with better water circulation.

“It goes over close to Eagle Creek,” Ray said. “It goes over to Cravens Lane, our water lines down in there. This way, this will make a connection which will have another direction of water going this way, where it already goes the other way.”

Ray said construction on the project will begin soon, following the scheduled preconstruction meeting. She said the district accepted the low bid of some $1.2 million from Kent Brothers Construction.

“It’s very good, but it’s not an everyday event,” Ray said. “I mean, this has been basically two years we’ve been trying to get this to go through, so we’re right now at about the two-year mark, so we’re very thankful that this is finally going through and that construction is going to be started soon.”

She said there are currently two dead-end lines where water feeds beneath Coffee Mountain. She said if there was a break on either line, the entire area could be left without water because the lines are not able to supplement each other. She said Barns Ridge and Cornerstone neighborhoods will also be insured by the more reliable system.

Contractors will install eight-inch lines, two pressure-reducing valve vaults, and air release valves; and replace several laterals.