News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Sparta water crews spent hours trying to repair a main water line bust this week on Gaines Street.
Water Department Superintendent Greg O’Neal said his crew stood knee deep in water in temperatures only in the teens. O’Neal said his crew’s safety was a big priority.
“The guys do get wet,” O’Neal said. “We keep a couple of trucks running and we rotate the guys in and out of the ditch, so they aren’t in there too long. We have multiple people while others can be warming, we can change them in and out.”
O’Neal said it took them around three hours to fix the leak on Gaines Street. He said a burst line on North Spring Street Tuesday morning was a bigger challenge due to the extent of the damage.
“It was like a 40-inch split,” O’Neal said. “We have to actually valve the lines down, cut a section out, disinfect the water main and then pull bacteriological samples and have them tested after we made the repairs. Those take longer because we have more parts of the puzzle to put together.”
O’Neal said this has been a busy couple days for the department. He said in addition to the main line busts, many pipes are freezing and bursting to people’s homes that also need repaired.
“It takes multiple people doing it,” O’Neal said. “We do have a couple guys who run and cut off water majors for busted pipes in houses and frozen water lines. We just utilize our resources the best we can and get to each one as fast as we can.”
A busted main water line can cause low water pressure in your home or even water to be down all together.
“We would rather not be out in the weather fixing them, but they do burst,” O’Neal said. “Especially this time of year when we have heavy rain and then it turns all cold the ground gets soft and then it shifts, which causes the mains to break.”
O’Neal said he cannot express enough gratitude to his crew for their skill and dedication.
“There’s not words to describe,” O’Neal said. “I’ve been doing this for close to 30 years, and I have the best water crew I’ve ever worked with at this point.”
