Home » Ironhouse Gives Update to Sewer Main Break in Oakley

Ironhouse Gives Update to Sewer Main Break in Oakley

ISD

by CC News
Oakley

OAKLEY, CA – Following a significant sewer main break at the intersection of East Cypress Road and Main Street, Ironhouse expresses gratitude to the employees and partners who worked quickly and efficiently to repair the line and to minimize any inconveniences to residents, businesses and schools.

An Ironhouse worker noticed signs of a pipe leak around 12:30 a.m. on October 16. Within 15 minutes, additional employees arrived to begin work on repairs and sanitary sewer mitigation. Approximately 1,000 gallons of sewage leaked from the pipe and was cleaned up.  Due to the quick response, no sewage contamination of the surrounding environment or Marsh Creek has been reported.

The impacted force main is underground pipeline infrastructure. Ironhouse greatly appreciates the support provided by the Oakley Police and Public Works Departments with traffic mitigation when intermittent lane closures were required along East Cypress over several days to safely make the emergency repairs. Exploratory work started in the morning on October 16 to investigate the nature of the leak and to determine the extent of the repair that would be required.   A repair plan was then put in place with a contractor already working for the City of Oakley in that area, and specialty parts were ordered. To minimize traffic impact, the contractor began repairing and replacing the damaged pipe; work began at 7 p.m. the following day, with the site fixed and cleared by 5:30 a.m. Friday morning before peak traffic.

“What this incident has shown, is the excellent collaborative working environment exemplified within the wastewater resource recovery industry, and across public agencies supporting our customers in Oakley,” said Ironhouse General Manager Jean-Marc Petit.

“It also speaks to the dedication of Ironhouse employees when one of our Operators recognized signs of trouble on a public street and immediately sprang into action on his drive to a night inspection. This enabled Ironhouse to immediately start repairs with support from the City of Oakley before this leak created a significant spill and avoided closing the entire intersection and possible additional traffic backups at this busy intersection of the city.”

While contractors sourced by the City of Oakley performed repairs, Ironhouse employees worked around the clock with vacuum trucks to maintain uninterrupted wastewater service in three affected neighborhoods. In addition to the District’s equipment, Ironhouse called upon mutual aid agreements with Delta Diablo Sanitation District and Central Contra Costa Sanitary District as well as two other hauling companies to bring additional trucks to divert wastewater to operating areas of the sewer system.

In addition, Ironhouse is especially grateful for the support and collaboration with the City of Oakley.

“We are proud of our Public Works Department Engineering and Maintenance team, which was instrumental in assisting Ironhouse Sanitary District with sourcing the construction company for this emergency repair and implementing traffic control,” said City of Oakley City Manager Joshua McMurray. “We are always ready to assist other agencies to benefit our community.”

A preliminary investigation is ongoing to the cause of the leak and the sewer pipeline’s premature failure after only 12 years. Ironhouse is inspecting all similar pipelines throughout the service area to ensure they are performing to manufacturer standards.

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2 comments

That Guy October 29, 2024 - 7:26 am

Way to go Ironhorse, you posted a great OSHA violation with men in a trench with no shoring or protection.

Reply
MODERATE October 30, 2024 - 6:32 am

There’s more than one way to meet OSHA trench safety requirements, depending on the specific situation.

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