Grand Marais Wastewater/Water Superintendent Tom Nelson appeared before the council on Wednesday, June 12, with an update on the city’s potable water distribution system.
The city’s water distribution system is made up of approximately 15 miles of water mains and has three reservoirs, two 150,000 gallon ground storage tanks and one 200,000 gallon standpipe.
Nelson said that because of the topographical nature of the town, the system has six pressure reducing stations and one booster pump station. There are three-pressure zones in the system, a high, medium and low, which he pointed out on a map to the council.
Currently, there are 144 fire hydrants in the system, said Nelson, adding that four new ones are going to be installed during the Highway 61 utility project scheduled to begin next summer.
Of the 144 fire hydrants two are abandoned and are basically “lawn ornaments,” said Nelson, adding that they were out of commission due to the abandonment of a section of water main. Out of the remaining 142 working fire hydrants, one fire hydrant in the business park is out of service due to pipe failure underground.
One other fire hydrant is marked out of service because of a leak between the fire hydrant and the fire hydrant lead gate valve, said Nelson. He added that this fire hydrant could be used if necessary.
Nelson said he added the four new fire hydrants to the Highway 61 downtown corridor, “to increase the fire protection on both the north and south side of the highway in the downtown commercial area.”
Of the four fire hydrants that are out of service, none currently affect the fire protection on either the north or south side of the highway.
Councilor Kelly Swearingen asked Nelson if any pressure tests were done on the fire hydrants to make sure they were in working order. Nelson responded by saying no, the city didn’t have a program for that because there wasn’t enough manpower to perform the tests. But he did say he was confident that when a firefighter needed water from a fire hydrant, the system would work as designed.
The two abandoned fire hydrants will have their tops and inner parts removed, and the barrels will be capped. The fire hydrant located on Second Avenue West and Second Street will be replaced when the water line is replaced.
As for the fire hydrant in the business park, it will stay as is for now and be replaced only if more development occurs in the area.
Leave a Reply