The village of Beiseker could be a hive of activity for municipal workers this summer as they try to fix not only the streets, but what's under them as well.![]()
Mayor, Ray Courtman says they've been having problems with water main valves failing, including three valves that gave out on the same day in December.
"The bolts that hold them together are corroding in our soil," explained Courtman. "Some of these valves haven't been in the ground that long (and) when our public works people try to isolate a break, as soon as they touch another valve it breaks too."
"I think there's maybe five or seven bolts that hold this thing on the top," he explained. "They're about as thick as your thumb (but) they've found them corroded away so there's less than a quarter of the diameter of the bolt left holding the darned thing together."
Public Works in Beiseker has identified about 15 of the more than 40 water main valves in town as in need of replacing at a cost of about $3,000 per valve, not counting the cost of digging up the valves, replacing them and filling in the hole.
Courtman told 99.5 Drum FM he's been told the problem is the chemistry of the Beiseker soil, combined with a high water table. The news comes as the village is planning a major street paving program.
"It's no use paving them if we've got this problem with the valves," noted the mayor. "So, we're going have to look at that too and work that in with our street improvement program."
Beiseker village council will schedule a Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss at length how best to approach the valve problem. A date for that hasn't been set.