The source of a water leak in downtown Burns Lake still remains undetected, despite further excavation work last week.
As reported in the Lakes District News edition of Jan. 11, 2012, a section of Hwy. 16 was excavated earlier this month due to the discovery of a water leak on Christmas day.
During routine maintenance, a village public works crew member noticed water coming out of the asphalt.
Highway 16 was then closed off to traffic for seven hours for the excavation work. As the source of the leak was not found, further excavation work was carried out last week at the Lakeland Hotel parking lot.
Sheryl Worthing, Village of Burns Lake’s chief administrative officer said, “The source of the leak has not been determined at this time, but we now know the direction in which it [water] is coming from. Excavation at the Lakeland Hotel parking lot has allowed us to understand the direction of the water and [enabled us] to reroute the water.
Worthing went on to say that both the excavation of Hwy. 16 and the parking lot at the Lakeland Hotel has improved the public works crew’s knowledge of the situation.
“It has also allowed us to design a plan of action moving forward, as well as to repair the ground, preventing any future saturation issues,” she said.
Worthing said the amount of water lost to the leak is minimal. “The leak is the approximate volume of a five-eighth inch garden hose running open. This is a minimal amount compared to the delivery capabilities of the village water system.”
The water has now been diverted to a storm drain on Gilgan Drive.
“This will give the soil a chance to drain and stabilize before we proceed to the next step,” Worthing said, adding that there will be more excavation in the downtown area, likely close to Pioneer Park this spring.
“Currently the site is secure, now that it is draining into the storm system,” she said.
Worthing explained, “The issue is the discovery of old abandoned pipes in the ground. The old pipe has been moving the water to multiple sites and each time the crew excavate to the source of a leak, another old pipe is discovered, which is transferring the water from other places. This abandoned pipe appears to be 60 plus years old. To compound the problem the pipe is completely deformed, so capping it or connecting it is hard to deal with.
Old abandoned soap drains and other fixtur
