Mississippi Aging Pipeline Issue

STARKVILLE, Miss.(WCBI) – Pipes bursting is common this time of year. But in some towns, it may not be why you think.

It’s an issue faced by many communities through out North Mississippi. Aging infrastructure, particularly water systems.

A water main break can happen for any reason.

“Some of our main lines that actually did break or we had rupture, wasn’t necessarily weather related as much as a shifting in the soil, the type that we have, and some of it might have been some age of infrastructure,” said Starkville Utilities General Manager Terry Kemp.

It happened this week in the Cotton District.

“Someone from Starkville Utilities came in talk to us about it. Told us that there was a possibility they would have to cut our water for an hour or two while they were working on different water mains,”said Bulldog Burger manager Ian Few.

Bulldog Burger only experienced a drop in water pressure while crews worked to fix the problem.

“That was a part of our older infrastructure but it was basically a pipe failed and then it just took us a while to excavate and then make repairs and get it re-fixed and during that period of time there were a few customers who’s service was interrupted,”said Kemp.

Starkville Utilities General Manager Terry Kemp says in evaluating Thursday’s break they can’t rule out age.

“In The city of Starkville we’ve got infrastructure that’s basically been in use for well over 50 years like anything else has a life. Type of material issues and various things that need replacement. We’re in the process right now of responding to problems and fixing those but also using that information to help plan where we need to invest in long term infrastructure and improvements,” said Kemp.

Kemp says they need a more permanent solution.

“What we are monitoring though certain areas of town what we consider very aged. It’s based on the type of infrastructure and then you start seeing a repetitive number of occurrences on that location or on that particular line then what we will do is actually an engineering study, come up with a design a plan funding and implement,” said Kemp.

Few says he is thankful to Starkville Utilities for the fast acting repairmen during the break.

“They were very considerate of letting us know what the problem would be giving us notice. If we were to lose water in the middle of services it would leave a much bigger impact on us and effected our customers,” said Kemp.

Research shows more than 300,000 water mains breaks happen nation wide as a result of widespread corrosion in aging pipeline system.