Massive water pipe replacement project underway in St. Joseph

Mar. 14—A historic overhaul of St Joseph's aging water pipe system spanning nearly 700 miles is now well underway across the area as local crews continued work on two high-priority areas on Thursday.

Close to 100 service workers from Missouri American Water and local contractors were on the ground working throughout St. Joseph and will be for the foreseeable future. Thursday's work on Gene Field Road — a site of frequent water main breaks — includes replacing 3,900 feet of aging pipe that dates back to the 1920s. Many of the pipes being replaced are made of either copper, lead or cast iron depending on the year it was installed.

Overall, 41,000 feet of aging water pipe, or roughly 7.5 miles, will be replaced in 2024 in St. Joseph.

"Some of this infrastructure's 100-plus years old. It was only designed to last 100 years. So we're going back and we're trying to replace those aging pipes," Missouri American Water Senior Manager John Hontz said. "So there's a lot of infrastructure in the ground that needs repair."

Statewide, Missouri American Water is investing more than $500 million in 2024 to upgrade its water and wastewater systems. The utility company serves nearly 1.6 million Missourians and provides nearly 35,000 services in St. Joseph alone. Nearly 10,000 of those services use lead pipes that have been identified for replacement to minimize the potential for lead exposure.

"The lead copper rule that came out from the EPA, it's very important that we go identify those areas ..." Hontz said. "We know where our lead's at and we're trying to get to. What we're worried about is on the customer side, if they have galvanize coming out of the wall in their basement or coming up through to their service or lead, we need to be notified."

Missouri American Water officials say the local water supply is constantly being monitored for lead exposure and other quality checks and is safe to drink. Workers are trying to be careful with their construction work so as not to potentially impact the water rates of local customers.

"So we want to be very efficient with what we do and try and hold our rates down as low as possible, you know, So we're not just skyrocketing rates and now stuff's out of control," Hontz said.

In St. Joseph alone, between 8,000-10,000 lead pipes have been identified for replacement. Workers are hoping to replace around 100 of those each month. That would put them on target to have all lead pipes removed by 2030.

"That's going to take time. It's going to take years for us to get that. And by the time we get there, we're going to have to start over and go back through the system again," Hontz said.

The new-age pipes being installed are made of more reliable and durable materials like PVC or a concrete-steel mix, depending on the type and size of pipe. The new material adapts better to area weather conditions and significantly reduces the likelihood of water line breaks.

Overall, Missouri American Water has pledged to replace five to 10 miles of pipe each year. The massive infrastructure project also includes enhancements to the Faraon and Randolph Water Boosters, a critical component of the water system that impacts water pressure and service reliability for residents and the effectiveness of 3,500 fire hydrants across St. Joseph.

Missouri American Water officials are urging local customers who haven't received forms from the company to reach out and set up inspections to lead pipes can be identified and replaced free of charge.

Additional pipe replacement projects to begin later this year include:

3,400 feet along Highway 371

4,200 feet along Savannah Road

3,100 feet along Galvin Road