El Dorado utility to smoke out lines

EL DORADO — Starting today, El Dorado Water Utilities will begin a long-term project to identify and repair inflow and infiltration problems in the city’s wastewater system.

John Peppers, treatment superintendent for the utility, said crews will be employing a liquid smoke technique, and he advised citizens not to be alarmed if they see smoke unexpectedly — and in unexpected places.

“A crew will be using a blower and liquid smoke on manholes that will force air and smoke into the [wastewater] lines,” Peppers said. “This will result in smoke coming up through the ground where a problem exists — if there’s a crack in the [wastewater] line. It can also blow through the vent stacks on the roof of people’s homes.”

He said El Dorado Water Utilities is working with the El Dorado Fire Department to help minimize any public alarm that may be caused by the process.

Smoking the lines will help locate problem areas and prevent sanitary sewer overflows and excess water from entering the wastewater collection system, Peppers said.

He said crews will begin on the city’s south side, where the majority of the problems have been occurring.

Work is scheduled to start by 8 a.m.

El Dorado Water Utilities has laid out a color-coded map that it will follow to complete the project as part of a master plan to improve the city’s wastewater infrastructure.

“This will be an ongoing project. We don’t have an end date. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover,” Peppers said.