C. City upgrading water system
$4.9M project to improve service in three neighborhoods
Cooper City, which is hosting a 56th anniversary celebration this month, is continuing its replacement of the original water main system.
Work has begun to replace 45,000 feet of pipe feeding about 700 homes in the Cooper Colony, Cooper Colony Estates and Summertime Isles neighborhoods.
“The infrastructure in this part of town is 50 to 60 years old and at the end of its life,” said Michael Bailey, director of utilities and city engineer.
The city completed similar work in the Timberlake neighborhood late last year, laying 15,000 feet of new pipes. The latest $4.9 million project is scheduled to be completed by June 2016.
About 20 residents sat through a recent 10-minute presentation by Ian Lund, senior project manager for the construction company, Killebrew Inc.
Lund said workers will employ a less-invasive technique called pipe bursting, a trench-less method that is cheaper than the traditional process, protects decades-old trees, reduces service interruptions and uses existing pipe alignment.
Lund’s team will use a hydraulic bursting head to forcibly thread new pipes through the existing system. Pits will need to be dug, but they are considerably smaller than the trenches used in the traditional method, he said.
Some yards, driveways and sidewalks will be torn up to complete the work — mostly near fire hydrants and meters.
“The contract says ‘you tear it up, you fix it,’” Lund said.
Killebrew representatives will soon be taking photographs and video of the yards, trees and streets along the construction route to ensure property is properly replaced.
However, Commissioner Lisa
Mallozzi recommended that homeowners make their own documentation to “safeguard” their property.
Many residents were concerned about water outages related to the construction. Lund said they will be notified two weeks in advance of several daylong water outages and again two days prior.
“We’ll knock on doors if we have to,” he said.
Pipe replacement will begin on Southwest 52nd Street. A tentative schedule will be placed on the city’s website, Bailey said.
There’s heavier traffic on Southwest 90th Avenue, due in large part to the nearby Pioneer Middle School and Cooper City High School, so work won’t begin until summer there. Lund said there will be periodic lane closures there rather than complete shutdown.
The project allows the city to upgrade other aspects of the system. Older meters will be replaced with new electronic water meters, Bailey said. Those meters will alert the city if a leak is detected or if there is unusual water consumption, such as if a homeowner accidentally left a hose running. The city also will be adding fire hydrants.