ODESSA, Texas — A water line replacement project started Monday in Odessa.
The project is located in the 700 and 800 blocks of Ada Street and Crane Avenue, and it is expected to take about two months to complete.
The city prioritizes areas that experience a high number of water breaks, and this is one of those.
"The ones that are experiencing more breaks we go to," said Thomas Kerr, Director of Public Works and Utilities. "And so we’ll be replacing this line over about two months, and then after that time this neighborhood should not experience many breaks for a significant period of time."
The project will cost about $250,000, which is right around the expectation for this type of work.
“So we have aging pipeline throughout the system, and annually the city council has appropriated about five to six million dollars for us to replace aging infrastructure, and this is part of that process," said Kerr. "This is just one of the many lines throughout the city.”
With hundreds of miles of pipeline that need to be replaced, and as the aging factor remains constant, this is at least a step in the right direction.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience on this," said Kerr. "This is something that we really need to do throughout the community, and we’re really happy to do so, and so we’re trying to progress as we can.”
These types of projects have been going on for about two years as part of an ongoing process to replace older infrastructure in the city. If any temporary scheduled disruptions of water pressure should occur, the contractor will notify customers 24 hours in advance.