Skip to content
You are here: Home Area News Archive
Glenwood Watermain Leak Mystery Solved
Pope County Tribune - Starbuck Times
Written by Zach Anderson - Starbuck Times New Editor   
Thursday, 19 February 2009 18:52


"It was covered with snow and nobody could see it," Perryman said.

On Wednesday, the city hired in large backhoe equipment to start digging into a steep hill, just south of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witness Church, along Highway 29 North.

And dig they did - crews had to dig a 30 foot hole to get to the leaking watermain.

"It took us about 12 and a half hours to get to the main to repair it," Perryman said. "We got it fixed, but it was an awful mess."

The crew used a sleeve to repair the leaking, cast iron watermain which was installed in the 1940s.

"Our small well was running non-stop, but it's back to normal now."

Perryman said around 1985, a force main for city sewer was installed in that area, but the old pipe was never discovered. Since then, the highway was raised and a service road was put in.

Perryman said because the pipe was so deep, it wasn't frost that caused the leak.

"Who knows," Perryman said, "something made it break."

It's a problem Perryman said he's afraid will continue to pop up in the city. "There are a lot of cast iron mains out there."