PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council passed an emergency declaration to allow staff to forego the public bidding process on the repair of a major pipe near the Eaglemount area.
City Manager John Mauro had made an emergency declaration for the repair on June 10, according to a council meeting document. The council’s motion ratified his declaration.
The city water crew had already addressed the leak with a temporary repair band, said Project Manager Tyler Johnson, an engineer with the city.
“This doesn’t completely stop the leak, but it gives us a chance to figure out what we’re going to do next,” Johnson said. “The city is very concerned about the leak growing and property damage to the adjacent property owner, as well as the slope all the way down to state Route 20 on Eaglemount, along with having to shut the (Port Townsend Paper) mill down to fix it.”
Public Works Director Steve King said the city has already paid claims for water damage in the past to adjoining property owners.
The request made Monday night was to expedite the fabrication of an encapsulated engineered coupler, a longer-term solution, Johnson said.
The mill is a partner with the city for the emergency repairs to the pipe, Johnson said. The city sent a directive to the mill authorizing it to proceed with an engineered coupler, he added.
“Right now, their preference is to wait till they’re down, in November,” Johnson said. “Either way, we need this emergency declaration now, so that we can have options on what to do.”
“We’re initially uncomfortable waiting for the mill shutdown in November because this could go any day,” King said.
The pipeline is essential to the city, King said.
“We only have three days of storage in our reservoirs,” he added.
King said he’s not sure about all of the reasons behind the mill’s preference to wait until November, but he has inquired and is waiting to hear back.
“The mill is probably considering the cost of a shutdown,” King said. “These emergency couplers range from, by the time they’re installed, $50,000 to $100,000. It’s not an insignificant investment, but then again, $50,000 to $100,000 if you damage people’s properties racks up pretty quickly too.”
Port Townsend Paper did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Section 5.4 of the 2021 water supply agreement requires that, to the extent feasible, repairs that shut down the water supply be performed during mill shutdowns or during low water periods.
The pipe is a part of the Olympic Gravity Water System (OGWS), which runs 30 miles from the Big Quilcene and Little Quilcene rivers, supplying water to Port Townsend.
The leak was discovered by a homeowner who was clearing a trail on his property to access the power line corridor for walking, Johnson said.
“They knew what to do, they immediately called the city,” Johnson said. “This was on June 4. The mill crew was able to find it, and we brought up the city’s water crew to start excavating to see how bad the leak was.”
After carefully excavating the 30-inch pipe, the leak was discovered to be a 6-inch-long crack at what Johnson called a girth weld, a joint weld made around the circumference of the pipe.
In January, a leak occurred in the same section of pipe, about 30 feet away, Johnson said.
“The break (in January) started out maybe a third of the way around, but as we dug, as we did stuff, it just slowly got bigger and bigger, which is one of our worries, to know how we’re going to fix this.”
In February, a fabricated encapsulated engineered coupler was installed. Johnson said the couplers are custom fit to the pipe, which is not perfectly round and which is oblong in places.
“It’s clamped onto the pipe and injected full of sealant,” he said.
The procedure of installing the coupler would not require shutting the water off, King said.
Johnson noted a higher than expected number of pipeline leaks recently with a recurring pattern in how the pipe is failing.
“We’re starting to experience a lot of breaks in this area,” Johnson said. “I’ve been here quite a bit. We’ve had five breaks in the last year. Four of those breaks have all been due to welds.”
Of the four breaks caused by failed welding, three of them were on the girth weld, Johnson said.
The OGWS pipeline, originally wooden, began operations in 1928. In 1946, about 6,600 feet of the pipe was replaced with steel piping, Johnson said.
“It’s interesting. We thought the 1928 pipe would have more problems,” King said. “It has had some problems. The Andrews Creek leak was 1928 pipe. But this 1946 pipe has had a concentration of breaks dating back to, I think, the late 90s. For whatever reason, in 1946, either the weld quality or the metal quality or something was off here in this area of the pipeline.”
King said the city is conducting a conditions assessment, which will help staff to discern if the stretch of pipe is a priority for replacement. The report should be back by the end of June, King said. Staff will present its finding to the council sometime after that, he added.
“Next year, we’ll be looking at investment strategies for the OGWS,” King said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
