The City of Sedalia will begin the first two projects under a $13.1 million water line replacement program on April 15.

The City of Sedalia says the planned improvements will enhance water quality, and improve service reliability to customers and provide a ready supply of water for the community’s firefighters.

Phase 1 consists of replacement of water lines with a northern boundary of W. 2nd Street extending south to W. 7th Street and having a western boundary of S. Park Ave extending east to Ohio Ave. The construction company is Hettinger Excavating, LLC, of Drexel, MO.

Phase 1 improvements include replacement of approximately 21,338 linear feet of water line, 28 fire hydrants and 285 service connections. This portion of the program is expected to be completed by mid-December. It was noted the work is weather dependent

The construction contractors have started and will continue to take photos and videos of the street, sidewalks and fronts of properties, so the areas may be restored to pre construction condition once the project is complete.

Prior to construction beginning, the City’s Water Division staff will be going door-to-door speaking with residents in the project areas and answering questions or concerns about the projects as well as placing door hangers with information about the projects and contact information for questions that may come up during construction.

Residents will continue to see survey stakes and utility markings along easements, rights-of-way and near water meter pits.

On streets where construction work is occurring, NO PARKING signs and SIDEWALK CLOSED signs will be placed. The City says that stormwater management controls will be placed around stormwater drains.

The City added that parking will reopen after work hours to allow for overnight parking. Where streets cannot be reopened to allow for parking or where material trailers or equipment is parked limiting available parking to residents, the City will temporarily allow parking along adjacent streets which routinely may be marked as No Parking (north/south running roadways).

During construction when the work day begins, the street will be barricaded and closed to through traffic. The City indicated that arrangements will be made to allow homeowners in and out of their properties.

On trash collection days, all garbage and recycling trucks will be allowed access to the project area for scheduled trash pickup.

Once construction of the new water main is complete, the construction crew will pressure test the pipe to make sure there are no leaks. The Water Division’s lab will test the water in the new line to verify it is safe to drink before putting it into service.

After the Water Division’s lab confirms the water is safe to drink, the crew will begin connecting homes to the new water main. As services are reconnected to the new water lines, the City says residents will receive notice by way of a RED door hanger 24-hours in advance of planned water outages, as a way to give homeowners time to plan for the outage occurring the next day.

After the water main replacement project is complete for a property, it is recommended that residents run one of the home’s cold water taps for 1-2 minutes to displace the standing water in the service line before consuming the water.

The City reports that these projects are directional boring projects which result in less disruption to easements and rights-of-way. Any landscaping and/or sod that is damaged will be scheduled to be repaired and/ or replaced by the Water Division’s contractors, during the appropriate seeding or planting periods.

The Water Division’s contractors will provide a one-time restoration of landscape to its pre-construction condition, at no cost to the resident, in the fall or spring when temperatures are suitable for planting.

Customers are still responsible for watering and caring for these plantings. If weather conditions are not suitable for sod replacement, straw will be used on residents landscapes for erosion control until conditions improve.

The City says all customers are placed on a landscape list in the order their water main replacement project occurred. Once the projects are completed, crews will do a final sweep to clean the area and begin moving all equipment and material out.

Street signs and stormwater management devices may remain in the project areas to collect sediment. This could mean the stormwater management devices will remain positioned in front of storm drains for several months.

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