CENTERVILLE—A recent water main break underscored the need for Centerville City to replace water pipelines in its aging system. In the early hours of Mother’s Day a massive water main break at Main Street and 1500 North sent 2 million gallons of water surging into the streets. The 1:30 a.m. rupture forced the closure of Main Street in both directions and left approximately 60 homes without service for nearly 12 hours.

Public Works Director Mike Carlson commended his staff for their quick response on the holiday. 

“I had seven of my staff out who... I thank them every day for being the men that they are and showing up,” Carlson said. “They were there until 1:30 in the afternoon, maybe even 2 in the afternoon away from their significant others. I commend them for their diligence in trying to come in and help out.”

The culprit of the break was an outdated “serpentine” white PVC pipe that has become a recurring nightmare for the city. According to Carlson, the pipe was originally installed with the claim that it required no bedding, but the rocky soil of Centerville has proven otherwise. Over time, rocks move against the pipe, eventually punching through the material. 

“It pushes up and then it just, you know, causes the pipe just to blow out,” Carlson explained, comparing the failure to a tire hitting a sharp rock. “They don’t even make the pipe anymore.”

While crews successfully replaced 21 feet of the damaged line and restored water by early afternoon, the incident served as a timely exclamation point to a decision made by the city council just days earlier. 

Coincidentally, on May 5 the city council approved a $2.4 million project to replace the waterline along Main Street from Chase Lane to 1700 North.

During the council’s work session that evening, Public Works official Dave Walker highlighted the urgency of the project, noting that there have been 10 major breaks in this specific corridor in recent years. One past leak alone cost the city $180,000 in repairs and water loss. 

“It breaks linearly,” Walker said of the existing PVC. “It can decimate an intersection in a matter of minutes.”

The new project will utilize ductile iron pipe, a much more durable metal alternative. 

“In the event of a failure, it has a tendency to break around it, which really localizes your damages typically,” Walker said. “If you had a leak on this 20 years from now, you’re likely talking a 10 by 10 patch, as opposed to intersections and potentially flooding the church building.”

Beyond the immediate need for reliability, the city is racing against a ticking clock involving the Utah Department of Transportation. With major construction planned for I-15 starting in late 2027, Main Street will become a critical alternative thoroughfare. Once that state project begins, UDOT is unlikely to grant permits for non-emergency utility work for several years.

To fund the $2.35 million pipeline project, the city will utilize an inter-fund loan from its Capital Projects Fund to the Water Fund, a move officials say is more cost-effective than seeking outside bonds which carry high issuance fees. By acting now, the city also avoids looming 7 percent price increases for materials and an estimated $1 million in inflationary costs that would accumulate over the next decade.

Residents can expect to see orange cones on Main Street as early as mid-summer. While the work is expected to be finished by a state-mandated deadline of Oct. 15, Carlson noted that much of the construction will occur off the shoulder of the road, which should minimize the impact on daily traffic. 

“We were trying to get out in front of it so that we would have a good water main through there,” he said. “It was 100 percent support from the city council... which we deeply appreciate in public works that they believed in the project and gave us the funds to move forward.”