City starts planning to replace old water system pipes

In 1812, a system of three-inch wooden pipes formed Lynchburg’s first water system, which was privately owned by city founder John Lynch.

Less than 10 years later, the system was plagued with leaks, prompting officials to find a new way to give residents reliable access to water.

The result was one of the first reliable public water systems in the country. Water was pumped 232 feet above the James River to a 600,000-gallon, brick-lined reservoir near what is now Seventh and Clay streets.

Today, a few of those original cast-iron pipes from 1827 are still in use, along with hundreds of thousands of feet of pipe that are quickly approaching the end of their useful life, city utilities director Tim Mitchell said. There’s no telling how much replacing hundreds of miles of pipe beneath city streets will cost, but officials are beginning to plan now, Mitchell said.

Water pipe replacement isn’t the only expensive infrastructure cost looming for the city:

- The 24-mile pipeline bringing water from Pedlar Reservoir to city treatment centers is quickly approaching the end of its expected lifetime.

- Recent changes to federal dam safety regulations are forcing city water officials to take a closer look at the Pedlar Reservoir dam to ensure it meets standards. Repairs, if needed, could cost millions.

Right now, the most effort involves the city’s aging water pipes. Of the 250,000 linear feet of pipe beneath downtown, 100,000 feet are at least 100 years old and rapidly approaching the end of their useful life, Mitchell said.

Compounding that is the different types of materials used in newer pipes, which resulted in a lower lifespan for many more miles of pipe. Keeping that in mind, the city is trying to spread out repairs to ensure the water lines don’t all fail at the same time, Mitchell said.

Right now the city has budgeted a little more than $2 million per year to replace aging water lines, but over the next five years that will increase to $4.5 million, Mitchell said.

“But over the next 10 to 15 years, that is going to increase to $14 million a year in order to keep up with the rate that water lines are going to fail,” he said.

City water managers have plotted out the expected timetable for when the bulk of pipes will need replacing. In 2025, the city expects about 130,000 feet of pipe to fail. In 2030, that number skyrockets to about 250,000 feet, documents show. A mile is equal to 5,280 feet.

An aging infrastructure isn’t unique to Lynchburg, but the swelling tide of failure rates will hit here sooner because of the system’s age, Mitchell said.

Recently, a water main broke under Main Street, but it took almost four days to locate where the problem was because there are so many utility lines running underneath the road, Mitchell said. Once utility workers found the break, they had to dig through many layers of city streets, cobblestone and trolley lines. “It can be a major issue to get to the breaks when they’re downtown,” Mitchell said.

Another major concern for city planners is the state of the pipeline delivering water to city treatment plants from Pedlar Reservoir.

The original pipe was made out of California redwood — “think of a 24-mile long barrel” — and the current cast-iron pipe installed in the 1930s is approaching the end of its intended lifespan, Mitchell said.

Currently, the city is doing an evaluation study on the line to look at renewal options, Mitchell said. The line typically breaks about twice a year and the city has a system in place to make quick repairs without too much trouble, he said. But finding the break can involve utility workers walking along the line in rural Amherst County to find the problems. “Sometimes it takes a few hours or even up to a day to find those breaks,” Mitchell said.

Replacement options are still vague, but Mitchell said it’s unlikely the city will increase the pipeline’s capacity to the two water treatment plants. The 36-inch pipe can deliver up to 13 million gallons per day.

Infrastructure is a key portion of the state-mandated water supply planning process, said Department of Environmental Quality senior water supply planner Adrienne Averett, because it’s forcing localities to examine the water delivery process. “If you have a sound infrastructure in place, the delivery will be more efficient.”

However, preparing for and finding the money to keep the tap running throughout the nation is an increasingly difficult prospect, Averett said. Back in the 1970s, federal money would cover up to 75 percent of infrastructure costs, but that amount is now less than 5 percent, Averett said.

“(Localities) are facing this issue of having to replace (pipes) and losing the federal cash cow to help them do that. That’s what the national climate looks like for all the water systems,” Averett said. “It will take billions of dollars to keep infrastructure functioning.”

BRIEF HISTORY OF LYNCHBURG’S WATER SYSTEM
1799 — The first water system in Lynchburg was a series of wells along what is now Main Street. They were installed by the town council, which was concerned about having enough water for firefighting. The earliest settlers relied on springs, wells and the James River for their drinking water.
1812 — John Lynch built a private water system to connect his springs near what is now Sixth and Jackson streets to a wooden reservoir at Church and Ninth. The three-inch-thick pipes were made from wood. Less than 10 years after its installation, the system was plagued with leaks.
1828 — Prussian-trained civil engineer Albert Stein proposed an ambitious plan to dam the James River and pump water 232 feet up to a 600,000-gallon brick-lined reservoir at what is now Seventh and Clay streets. The water would be pumped through seven-inch-thick cast-iron pipes. The pump was powered by a water wheel.
1878 — Lynchburg’s first city engineer, Col. Augustine Forsberg, was behind a new reservoir build on College Hill. As early as 1866, he advocated that the city build a gravity system from a nearby stream to bring a cleaner water source.
1907 — Pollution problems in the James River forced the city to find a new water source, which was the Pedlar River in Amherst County. In 1907, the first dam was finished and a 22-mile, 30-inch gravity pipeline made from California redwood went into service.
1917 — The original College Hill filter plant went into use.
1924 — Water meters became mandatory for users. Consumption dropped by 24 percent in two years.
1933 — The Pedlar pipeline was replaced and enlarged with cast iron pipes. Chlorine was added to the water during this time to reduce disease risks.
1955 — The current College Hill filtration plant was built.
1963 — Pedlar Dam was raised to its current height.
1974 — Abert water treatment plant was built in Bedford County, which can treat water from the James and from Pedlar Reservoir.
1984 — The College Hill filtration plant was enlarged and the original plant taken offline.
Source: City water reports