31-01-2025
PCB officials give more details on back-to-back water main breaks from December
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) – On December 5, a Florida Department of Transportation subcontractor was completing his work when he hit a water line on Panama City Beach Parkway, between Culvers and Hancock Bank.
Crews repaired the 16-inch line after a 3-to-4-hour service interruption. On December 9, someone reported a leak on Laird Street and Laurie Avenue, believed to be caused by a tractor-trailer or something similar.
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Work crews confirmed a leak and ordered a new piece to repair it, but later that night, the line split, causing a major water main break.
It took crews almost 24 hours to repair the line and restore service.
'It was just the duration that our crews were out there. They would get tired and fatigued. We really needed on-call services from a supplemental contract. That idea would just be basically a standby service that we would call if we had an event like that in the future,' PCB Utilities Director Mark Shaeffer said.
City officials say they're hoping to hire more workers.
'One of the areas or two of the areas that we had discussed was adding another crew for the additional valve exercise machine. And that team would also be part of the locating team for the isolation valves that are existing in the system and also increasing the number of personnel we have to do line locates for contractors,' PCB Vice Mayor Michael Jarman said.
Officials believe helping contractors locate lines before digging could help prevent damages. The valve exercise machine will help isolate future line breaks.
Utility officials want to add four more water tanks in Panama City Beach, two on the west end and two on the east end. They say this will not only help with daily usage of water but will help in emergencies like natural disasters.
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'Our tanks were full prior to Michael, we were able to reduce the pressure that we were giving it to people so they wouldn't use it as use as much water. It's water conservation stuff. So yeah, that, that was essential for us out here in terms of staging for emergency response and keeping people, residents in their homes and so forth.'
The city will consider Shaeffer's proposals and decide in the next few months.
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