Fort Carson DPW to upgrade north end water main

FORT CARSON, Colo. — Fort Carson’s Directorate of Public Works (DPW) will begin replacing an aging water main on the north side of post. Thanks to a recent influx of funding from U.S. Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM), the project should be completed soon.

IMCOM recently approved $2.7 million in additional year-end funding for the project, which will essentially replace water mains that were first installed underground during the 1940s.

“The existing water main is made of ductile iron and is well past its lifespan,” said Chris Markins, utilities engineer technician, DPW. “Following a series of breaks in the area during 2015, DPW engineers determined the pipe would need to be replaced sooner rather than later, and thus, prioritized the project. If it is not replaced, we will continue to experience breaks and lose thousands of gallons of water. Right now, every day that this existing line holds together is a gift.”

Beginning this fall, construction crews will start phase one of a planned three-phase project to replace the main water transmission pipe on the northeast side of post. Crews will bore underground and run the new pipe — made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) — mostly parallel to the existing pipe.

“Since crews will bore underground, there won’t be many impacts to traffic or gate activity,” Markins said. “Phase one will run from the Gate 4 area to Wickersham Boulevard and will tie into the existing line prior to phase two.”

Each subsequent phase will lengthen the new water main further south. Crews will install the new pipe along with new valves, then run new supply lines to each building in the affected area.

Though most people shouldn’t notice a difference in surface activity, the work won’t be easy. Workers will need to maneuver around conflicting utilities — power lines, natural gas lines, storm-drain and sewer lines.

“Receiving these new funds allows us to complete the project much sooner,” said James Bohall, civil engineer for DPW. “We were looking at funding one phase at a time, but we can’t predict future funding, so there was no guarantee that we would have funding for the last phase.”

Bohall explained that having funding in place in fiscal year 2021 makes it almost certain that phase one will be completed in 2022, while it also increases the odds of obtaining funding for phase two in fiscal year 2022.

DPW leaders expect most buildings to have water outages for a single day at some point during the project while crews run new supply lines to each building. During phase three, crews will also need to install a new valve and excavate an existing supply line at building 749, exclusively.

While impacts should be minimal, Markins said the new HDPE pipe has an expected lifespan of 50 to 100 years and is superior to iron.

“I don’t think most people think about what’s underground and the age of that infrastructure in general,” he said. “After installation of the new HDPE pipe, we won’t have to worry about water main breaks on the north end of post for quite some time.”