Startup's water system is about 60 years old, and pipes are failing throughout the system, said Startup water commissioner Kate Roesler last week.
To replace the pipe will cost about $6 million, money the water district doesn't have. The pipes are made of asbestos concrete, a common material used in water pipes about 50 years ago. When the pipes get old, they soften, leaking and breaking easily.
"You could put your thumb through the pipes," said Roesler.
Recently the city of Monroe had to replace a large amount of asbestos pipe in the downtown area for the same reason.
Asbestos concrete is not made of the same kind of asbestos that causes asbestos poisoning when airborne. But at high levels, it can be harmful when swallowed. So far, Startup's water hasn't hit those levels. "We're about halfway to where they consider it dangerous," said Roesler.
Startup gets its water from a well on Kellogg Road from where it is piped to about 600 users. In the last two years, water rates have gone from $25 per year to $56 per year.
But while that enabled the USDA to give the water district a $1 million loan, it still leaves the district $5 million short of what it will cost to replace the pipe. It will, however, enable the district to replace at least the main trunk line passing from the well to US Highway 2 and then to the west end of the Sultan-Startup Road.
Right now, the water district is losing about half the water from the well to leaks and seepage. And big, disruptive breaks are growing more common. "A year ago Memorial Day we had the highway shut down because of a break," said Roesler.
The federal stimulus money includes billions for infrastructure repairs, especially for systems upon which entire communities depend. But Roesler said that so far, the district has been unsuccessful getting stimulus money.
"There were 27 other projects in the state that were higher priority," said Roesler. So the district commissioners will keep applying for grants, she said, and do bits and pieces of the needed repairs as possible.
It's getting harder to collect money owed to the district, mentioned Roesler.
"We've had more delinquencies than ever before in the history of the district," she said. "And it's people who weren't ever delinquent before."It appears to be due to job loss and the economic downturn, she said.
Roesler hopes help comes soon in the form of large grants or state or federal money. "Eventually the system is going to collapse," she said.
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