Water main break has city worried

The city of Shawano is looking into whether a downtown water main break last week was an isolated incident or a harbinger of a bigger and potentially expensive problem. The break in the 200 block of South Main Street on Sept. 25 was actually the third such incident involving the water main installed as part of the major Main Street reconstruction project in 2002 and 2003. In December 2010, the basement of Tom’s Tap at 115 N. Main St. was flooded when an underground service connection from the water main to the building broke loose. Before that, a stainless steel saddle that holds the service connection to the water main in place failed in February 2009 outside of the Farm Inn’ on Main at 123 N. Main St., only 50 to 75 feet away. The most recent water main break was due to a stainless steel saddle that had deteriorated. City officials said the leak was detected before any property damage could occur. The Main Street reconstruction stretched from the channel to the Mountain-Bay Trail at Oshkosh Street. The contractor on the project was Degroot Construction of Green Bay, which purchased the saddles from Davies Water Equipment of Appleton. The saddles were manufactured by Smith Blair Inc. of Texarkana, Texas. Smith Blair told the city after the first two incidents that the problem wasn’t with the saddles, but with soil conditions where the breaks occurred. Samples after those incidents showed the soil had been saturated with chlorinated water. City Administrator Brian Knapp said the saddles would be tested and the manufacturer contacted to see whether any other customers have had issues using these same saddles. Knapp said the city was also considering digging up some other saddles at other locations and checking their condition. Further soil samples would also be taken, he said. The city could face a couple of options, Knapp said, including replacing saddles in those isolated spots where soil conditions are likely to cause deterioration. If the saddles are the problem, however, the city could have to take a broader approach, which could mean replacing all of the saddles used in the Main Street project.