CSA to fight leaks from inside Que line, provide water to customers from Border, Hinckston Run reservoirs

Mar. 9—HOLLSOPPLE, Pa. — Cambria Somerset Authority crews are planning to attack water leaks on the Quemahoning Pipeline next week from another angle — inside the pipeline.

CSA Chairman Jim Greco said that means the authority's 66-inch main line that delivers water from the Quemahoning Reservoir to industrial customers will be shut down and drained temporarily, and customers will be served by water from two backup reservoirs.

"We've already alerted our customers about the shutdown," Greco said. "The customers downstream will be getting water from the Border and Hinckston (Run) dams."

Authority officials had hoped to avoid shutting down the Quemahoning line, but trying to patch tiny holes in a pipeline that is buried under five feet of earth has been a slow, expensive endeavor, Greco said.

Many of those holes are at the bottom of the pipeline, and the CSA's Laurel Management crews have spent more time excavating to search for the leaks than actually repairing them, Greco added.

CSA Assistant Operations Manager Rick Maust said workers will be able to walk inside the pipeline and pressure-wash any debris inside to get a clear look at problem areas.

"It's going to allow us to get our eyes on the problem, and the (holes) are going to be a lot easier to patch when water isn't blowing out of them," Maust said.

The authority uses cone-shaped wooden plugs to stop the leaks and then covers them with steel plates, Greco said.

The issue exists at a portion of the Quemahoning line in the Maple Ridge area in Conemaugh Township, Somerset County.

In late February, Greco said the authority spent around $75,000 to carve out an access road to the wooded area to begin work. But once crews started unearthing the line, they found a series of tiny leaks, and work has since progressed slowly, sometimes through rainy weather.

The authority has shut down service through the Quemahoning line for dam and pipeline projects on multiple occasions in the past.

The former Manufacturers Water Co. system of pipelines was built generations ago to allow such shutdowns to occur without interrupting steel-making downstream, and the CSA has used the system's backup sources — particularly the Hinckston Run and Border dams — to let today's manufacturers continue working as well.

Greco said a few customers, including North American Hoganas and the Somerset County General Authority, are upstream from the leaks, so they aren't impacted at all by the project or the water source switch.

Twelve other customers — including Gautier Steel, Liberty Wire Johnstown and CPV Fairview Energy Center — will receive water from the Hinckston Run or Border reservoirs.

Greco said those customers have been notified to give them the opportunity to prepare for the change.

He said the move to switch from one reservoir's water to another is "almost instantaneous" for the authority and its customers, but given that the Border and Hinckston Run connections are used less often, those lines need to be flushed to remove sediment, and customers also account for the move by adding different screens to filter the water at their intake sites.

Greco said the goal is to shut down the Quemahoning line this weekend so crews can begin their work. The expense, estimated at approximately $200,000, is being covered by the authority's emergency repair fund, he said.