The Issue: Pipeline Connection to Canton Water System
Pipeline Incomplete & Inadequate
Pipeline Legislation    Pipeline Not Bid    Pipeline Incomplete

My Position: The pipeline connection from the City of Canton Water System to the North Canton Water Treatment Plant (WTP) is not complete and may not provide the quantity of water the City of North Canton would need in an emergency.

The 24-inch pipeline connection to North Canton’s WTP is incomplete:
 


Summer 2002

This photograph shows two six-inch pipes protruding from the ground several hundred yards to the north of the Water Treatment Plant. The pipes (surrounded by orange barricade netting) mark the temporary termination of the 24-inch pipeline that was installed in the summer of 2002. A temporary hookup to the Water Treatment Plant was fashioned using two six-inch fire hoses. In a test late last summer, this temporary hookup failed to provide the quantities of water that would be needed in a North Canton water emergency.

 


Summer of 2003

Now with all the construction going on at the Water Treatment Plant, there is no way a temporary pipeline could be laid across this area. The construction going on at the Water Treatment Plant has left large excavated areas that block even the failed temporary hookup that was attempted late last summer.


As of July, 2003, the pipeline has not been connected to the WTP:

bullet I know that myself and one other councilmember had no idea that the pipeline would not be connected to the WTP after the pipeline project was completed. I did not discover this until approximately two months after the pipeline construction was completed.
 
bullet In the event that the City of North Canton needs an emergency supply of water from Canton, the city’s plan is to hook up two six-inch fire hoses over the surface of the ground into the WTP to complete the connection.
 
bullet This emergency hookup will have to be used until 2004.
 
bullet Upon hearing of the plan to use the fire hoses for an emergency hookup to Canton for water, my first concern was that the two six-inch fire hoses could not carry enough capacity to handle several millions gallons of water a day.
 
bullet I was not able to get a definitive answer on the capacity of the fire hoses. But more importantly, when I talked to the EPA regarding this temporary connection, I was advised that the bigger problem was with the introduction of air into the WTP when using the fire hoses. The fire hoses were tested using this temporary connection and were unable to transport enough water to solve an emergency need for water. This is due to the fact that the flow of water through the fire hoses had to be reduced considerably to minimize the generation of air at the time the water dumps into the clarifiers at the WTP.
 
bullet The introduction of air into water at the WTP resulted in air-locking the entire WTP and required back flushing of the WTP filters every one or two days. The normal schedule of back flushing the filters at the WTP is about every four days.

Consequently, it appears that the pipeline connection to Canton’s Water System will not provide a backup source of water for the City of North Canton until a permanent underground connection to the WTP is complete in 2004.

Return to To

 

Home  Search  Contact  Privacy Policy 

Copyright © 2003 Chuck Osborne, North Canton, Ohio 44720 USA All rights reserved.
Site Design & Development: Clarity Web Services



Paid for by Chuck Osborne,  Rita J. Palmer, Treasurer,  307 Fairview St. SE North Canton, OH 44720