Posted on December 21th, 2022

The Toledo Regional Water Commission unanimously agreed Wednesday to build an entirely new nine-mile water line between Toledo’s low-service pump station at Reno Beach and its Collins Park Water Treatment Plant at a cost of $175 million.

In so doing, the commission abandoned any thought of trying to repair the existing, 82-year-old pipe for $71 million less.

While financing hasn’t been ironed out, the deal apparently hinges on whether the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will let the commission postpone construction of a reservoir the agency wants as a backup.

The commission still plans to build that reservoir, and was briefed Wednesday on progress to acquire land for it in the East Toledo-Oregon area.

But it will soon ask the Ohio EPA to extend its 2029 reservoir deadline by about seven years.

That will allow it to start building the new pipeline — one of the region’s most important — with $100 million budgeted for the reservoir.

The tentative plan is to then make up much of the difference through collecting additional funds after surcharges on area communities expire in 2028, Toledo Public Utilities Director Ed Moore told the full board during its meeting at Perrysburg Fire Station 39 along Fort Meigs Road.

Grants and low-interest loans will be sought, too.

“We are definitely tracking every dime,” Mr. Moore said.  

Mr. Moore chaired a subcommittee tasked with making a recommendation in August after consultants told the commission the aging pipeline was likely destined for a major loss of service within five years if nothing was done.

The problem isn’t with its World War II-era steel, which remains good. But the 1,189 clamps, or couplers, used to connect the many pipeline sections back then are considered a grave failure risk.

Each are about 40 feet apart. Many of those couplers and the hardware holding them in place are now corroding, and some are in early stages of failing, consultants have said.

One Chicago-area consultant who has spent his career studying such pipelines said it was common for couplers to be used instead of welds, because most welders were off building ships to help support the country’s war effort back then.

Recent flooding in North Toledo has something in common with this project miles away, in that failing pipe couplers also were the problem there.

An investigation into the cause of the North Toledo incident shows that — contrary to what officials initially thought — the water main there did not fail.

Rather, the cause of flooding is attributed to a series of 1931 couplers holding sections of pipeline together in North Toledo.

“The bottom rod rusted out,” Mr. Moore said. “There’s no telling when or where something else will happen.”

Todd Saums, Toledo’s water distribution manager, said an asphalt plant is working overtime this weekend so the city can get enough material to rebuild streets in the affected areas. The hope is to finish work on the North Toledo waterlines by Monday, and for all street reconstruction to be completed on or about Dec. 18, he said.

Major coupler failure along the nine-mile waterline between Reno Beach and the water plant would result in considerably more flooding than what North Toledo experienced, Mr. Moore said.

That 78-inch pipeline runs parallel to a 60-inch line. 

The subcommittee’s recommendation to put in an entirely new one at much higher cost was driven partly by the desire to stagger the eventual replacements of both pipes, Mr. Moore said.

The 78-inch pipe was installed in 1940, while the 60-inch line was installed in 1956.

Both are made of steel expected to last 100 years. The latter is believed to have another 30 years of life remaining.

“I think we’re going to be in a good spot once we get this finalized by the Ohio EPA,” Mr. Moore said.

The Ohio EPA is willing to consider the commission’s plan.

“Generally, we are open to discussions with Toledo on the priority and timing of these critical infrastructure projects. However, we will need to receive and review the formal request before we could comment,” James Lee, Ohio EPA spokesman, said.

Of the six options the subcommittee considered, one called for the nine-mile pipeline’s two worst sections — at its east and west ends — to be replaced for $104 million. Engineers said it would have been possible to defer replacement of the less-problematic center section for a few more years.

The agency wants a reservoir built that’s large enough to provide 15 days of backup water in the event of another algae-driven water crisis or another emergency similar to what happened the first weekend of August, 2014.

The region’s 500,000 water customers were told not to drink or touch their tap water for nearly three days because a Lake Erie algal poison had breached the system. Then-Gov. John Kasich called in the Ohio National Guard to help distribute potable water.

The regional water commission’s next meeting was tentatively set for 1 p.m. Jan. 25 inside the same Perrysburg building.

Original article: Regional commission agrees to spend $175M to replace major waterline at risk of failure.