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by Tom Coombe
Water service was restored in Ely early Wednesday morning after a roughly eight-hour shutdown, and a boil order was lifted Thursday morning.
Harold Langowski, Ely’s city clerk-treasurer, indicated that water service was largely back to normal Thursday.
But that wasn’t the case starting around 4 p.m. Tuesday, when a break in a water main that may be as many as 100 years old shut down water faucets throughout the city.
The impact was immense.
Businesses and restaurants that rely on running water closed, and students in Ely’s public school system got a day off Wednesday.
An ample supply of drinking water allowed school to reopen Thursday and the boil order from the Minnesota Department of Health was lifted later in the morning, amounting to an “all clear” of sorts.
“There’s an overabundance of caution to make sure we don’t have bacteria that enters our system that could cause anybody health concerns,” said Harold Langowski, Ely’s city clerk-treasurer and operations manager.
Langowski added that “we were fortunate the (state) Department of Health was already up here doing some work for other communities. They were able to get here and able to run samples right back to the lab and get results back as quickly as humanly possible.”
The line break occurred on the west end of Ely, where crews were working to repair a leak that had been discovered.
It had resulted in a detour of Sheridan Street between Third Avenue West and Fourth Avenue West.
“We had been working with MnDOT to investigate water on the road at that corner, probably since the spring” said Langowski. “Last week on Friday we dug up the drain tile behind the curb and found the drain tile was plugged up.”
On Monday, water was still seeping into the curb, prompting the detour and further exploration.
A 12-inch water line was dug up and Langowski said “By Monday afternoon, after excavating, we were able to verify it was the joint that had been leaking. I’m guessing it was leaking for a very long time.”
Langowski said “I have to assume it was 100 years ago” when the line was originally put in.
The city had to go as far as Grand Rapids to find parts to make repairs and it was Tuesday afternoon that the city was “cutting into old pipe that needed to be replaced, we got the pipes all loose and one of the valves came loose causing the gasket to push out.”
“We isolated all the system valves and went and shut them off immediately,” said Langowski. “We got the trench pump down. Then it was getting everything back together and we’re talking about 100 year old pipe. Bolting it all up and getting the pipe back into place and getting valves operational and back to having two independent feeds to the other tower.”
Word of the water service shutdown spread quickly and an initial estimate that it would be restored by 8 p.m. was not met.
City crews worked furiously into the evening, and just after midnight service was restored and crews were flushing hydrants around town.
An emergency plan was implemented allowing Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital to maintain operations.
“We’ve got an emergency water supply plan with the hospital,” said Langowski. “When that happens we’ve got potable water to bring, and all they have to do is connect to that truck. They probably used 1,500 gallons of water.”
Langowski said the city also had 1.5 million gallons of water available if needed.
The emergency cost the city “about a few thousand dollars in parts” in addition to labor time.
Langowski also noted “the piping in this area is on the project priority list by the Department of Health” through the legislature and that he’ll be citing the emergency in correspondence to lawmakers - including State Sen. Grant Hauschild (D) and State Rep. Roger Skraba (R) - to lobby for additional funds for that program.
