Missouri Pacific Main Break Letter 09301976
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CITY OF SALINA
WATER AND SEWERAGE DEPARTMENT
300 WEST ASH STREET . P. O. BOX 1307
SALINA. KANSAS 67401
DIRECTOR. OF UTILITIES,
RON WEBSTER
AREA CODE 913 827-9625
September 30, 1976
TO:. Norris Olson, Bill Harris, Don Harrison, L. O. Bengtson,
George Pauls, Engineering Department
FROM: . Ron Webster, Director of Utilities
RE: Sewerage force main break, west of sewerage treatment plant approximately
1/2 mile and north of, and adjacent to th,e.Missour1 Pacific Railroad~tracks., .
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Approximately 2:00 P.M. in the afternoon of 29 September 1976, Armand Paradis
received a call from a concerned 1 andowner, that water ~Jas comi ng up out of
the ground and onto his field near the above referenced. Since the city has'
no water mains in the described vicinity, Armand Paradis contacted George Pauls
of the Sewerage Department. A quick follow-up check of the call indicated
sewerage coming out of the ground just north of the elevated railroad tracks
of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company and flowing north onto a cultivated
field. This is the approximate location of the, City of Salina's 2011 cast iron
forcemain coming from our large sewerage pump station located at Ash Street
and Riverside. '
This same described location (see reference above) is at or near the locatiOn
where the Missouri Pacific Rai~road sustained considerable damage to their
road-bed, ties and tracks due to a railroad car and/or cars IIjumpingll the
tracks several weeks ago.
As this office Understands at the present, the Missouri Pacific Railroad hired
a fi rm from Council Grove, Kansas. (The Neoshoe Construction Company) or also
known as IINeoshoe Emergency Railroad Servicell to repair their damages from the
, above menti oned de-ra ilment and thi s emergency rail road servi cecompany was' '
using a IIcatll to dig a hole on the north side of their railroad embankment to
bury some broken railroad ties, and 1I0therll debris, in lieu of hauling off to
some other location. During the process of digging this hole, the blade of
the IIcatllstruck our 2011 C.!. pipe, breaking it, and causing the disruption
of our transporting sewerage to the treatmert plant.
This office has contacted R.G.B. Schmidt. Insurance Company (Mr. Dennis Poer)
who informed. this writer, to use our own good judgement in repairing this
break, and that they (R. G. B. Schmi dt) w; 11 defend us, and Larry Bengtson'
told us to keep track of all time and expense involved. We also have informed
the local Department of.Health and Environment,' as we may have.to by-pass
some sewerage from our Ash and Riverside pump station.
As of th i s writi ng Mr. Don Hoff has contacted Mr. Don Schoff of Smoky Hi 11, lnc.
to meet with him, George Pauls and myself to ascertain our best method of
repair. This meeting to be at 11:00 o'clock Thursday, September 30, 1976.
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, MEMBER. . . KANSAS LEAG'UE OF MUNICIPALITIES - NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES
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page 2
September 30, 1976
Every effort is being made to complete this repair as quickly as possible. - We "
have retained the ,services anq equipment of Smoky Hill, Inc. to excavate this
'break and along with the sewer and water maintenance crews hope to have the
force main repaired this weekend. Smoky Hill started excavating with their
equipment Thursday afternoon,:September 30, 1976 at approximately 3:00 p.m.
One other item of interest, is:, a Mr. George S. Edgar, representing the Claims
Department of MoPac Railroad, was in the Engineering office Wednesday afternoon
(as George Pauls and I were checking out the location and depth of this pipe-
line from the plans) and he in:formed this writer that IItheyll (Mopac Railroad)
assumes no responsibility for :this damage and that we had better check our copy
of the agreement between the ra i 1 road and the ci ty, as to our ri ghts, etc. to, "
even put the pipeline where it is. He also was accompanied by a Mr. Robert
S. Weir, General Claims Depart~ent, 711 North Jackson Street, Pratt, Kansas.
'f:hics.'office checked wi th, Don Harri son,~ as to any-.agreement we mi ghthavew-i th
,f/tlfecrai lroad-foreasements,damagEfs,.'etc and tClda:te-~':none has been found.
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Also, we have had to by-pass some sewage at our Eastborough and East Ash
pump stations, in an effort to' get the sewerage level down at the break location
so we can repair this pipeline,. This may tend to complicate the problem, but
is necessary fClr the repair.
Will attempt to keep your office informed on any new developments.
PS Have already received a complaint call from a Dr. King, who has wheat
planted in the field north of the railroad tracks. He was complaining
about the IIwaterll we are discharging on his wheat field, as well as,
equipment tracks, on his field. We now are discharging (by pump and
hose) to the burrow ditches along the roadway.' , ,
As mentioned prior, we are keeping track of time, equipment and materials.
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