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Scheduled Water Outage Wednesday Will Affect Some Bloomington Southside Residents

Last updated on Tuesday, October 17, 2017

(BLOOMINGTON) - Work continues on replacing water mains across the city to update the water delivery infrastructure. City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU) has been at work along Church Lane for several weeks laying a new 12-inch pipe that will service customers in Bloomington and southern Monroe County.

On Wednesday, October 18, water will be shut off beginning at 9:00 a.m. until approximately 3:00 p.m. to tie the new water main to existing pipes. All affected CBU customers will receive a notice at their address. The outage also will affect some Southern Monroe Water Authority customers. On Wednesday, Rogers Street will be narrowed to one lane at the Church Lane intersection with staff present to direct traffic.

More than 75 percent of the City's water mains are over 50 years old, with some dating as far back as 1910. The area near the Church Lane and Rogers Street intersection is one of the most problematic in the city, with 4 breaks in the last 2 years. Besides the service disruptions due to main breaks and other issues, repeatedly repairing existing infrastructure is expensive and inefficient. In its 2016 rate case, CBU instituted a long-term program to replace aging infrastructure, and has committed to invest $1.8 million per year on main replacements.

"This type of infrastructure replacement causes temporary inconveniences, but, over time, our customers will experience improved and more reliable water delivery," said Utilities Department director Vic Kelson.

Water main replacements are prioritized based on several factors. Mains with a history of problems will be replaced first, followed by mains feeding critical locations, pipes known to be old or in poor condition, and neighborhoods already queued for road work. Most replacements will occur in residential neighborhoods.

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