Kimball Public Works received a call early Monday morning, Jan. 20, about water flowing through the parking lot at Land O’Lakes Oil & Propane on the southwest corner of the intersection of Highway 15 and the CPKC railroad tracks in town.
The unusual flow of water was caused by a break in the water main under the road, most likely caused by the very cold weather snap we experienced.
The break was very close to the railroad tracks, explained Public Works director Travis Peterson, so it couldn’t just be dug up and fixed. Instead, they added a gate valve south of the tracks as a temporary fix. The break is thus isolated, but not yet repaired. And water has been restored to the two businesses south of the tracks, Land O’Lakes and the American Legion Club.
The city’s engineer is working on a plan for an actual fix of the broken main. The plan could involve re-routing the water main so that excavation under the tracks is not needed.
Meanwhile, the Earth seemed to burst forth with water in another location in town: in front of the Post Office. Sunday morning, Jan. 26, a layer of mud was seen in the parking lot on the south side of the Post Office building, and there was a river of ice flowing from there down the sidewalk on the east side of the street.
The service line to the Post Office building is suspected to have broken following the weekend of no water use, again likely as a result of the cold weather snap.
The service line is not the responsibility of the city but of the building owner. An emergency repair request has been submitted higher up in the Post Office hierarchy. Meanwhile, water service to the building was cut off at the curb stop, and the building currently has no water service until a repair can be made.