Comments about ‘Water restored to Draper residents and businesses’

I have noticed that many city maintenance crews are required to use questionable parts and methods to do installations and repairs. This should occur once in 2500 years and no sooner. We are affecting peoples lives and homes and taxes. These installations and repairs should always be done with the best engineering, maintenance and parts and procedures possible. There has been too much politics enter in to the process in the last 50 years. We accept the lowest bidder and don't ask questions about quality or proficiency of the workers and the company. Do it right with high quality the first time and it will last longer and cost less to maintain.

DR Hall,

I agree with you on the questionability of the parts and methods when it comes to installation and repairs. The water main is either cast iron or ductile iron. The city crews are repairing the break with a pvc pipe that is called C-900. My assumption is that the city has allowed this pvc pipe to be installed as it is cheaper and does not corrode. The iron pipe that broke should have a service life of at least 60-80 years. That is where the politics comes into play. The iron pipe manufactures are selling pipe with the claim that it lasts longer and is stronger and while I don't know when this main was installed, it is obvious that the water department didn't get the expected service life.
I'm not a fan of pvc pipe for water mains in that the outside dimension (OD)is the same, the in interior dimension (ID) is quite smaller. Because of the smaller ID, to get the same amount of water to the end users the city has to pump in more pressure. More pressure costs more so ultimately you will pay more for water.