EPCOR Water is beginning 2019 with a significant infrastructure construction project in Fountain Hills. The water company serving the town will replace nearly 6,000 feet of 12-inch water main that runs below Sunridge Drive between Palisades Boulevard and Desert Canyon Drive.

Rick Alvarez, the project engineer for EPCOR, outlined the project before the Town Council on Dec. 18.

The water line along Sunridge Drive has been a particular problem with several ruptures over the past few years.

“We have had to make multiple emergency repairs to this line, including one where a responding fire truck fell through the sinkhole left by the break,” Alvarez said.

He said that when the SunRidge Canyon subdivision was built about 20 years ago the water main was improperly installed with inadequate bedding for the pipe. In the rocky ground, with routine movement from pressure fluctuations, rocks have worked holes into the plastic pipe.

A portion of the line from just below Palisades Boulevard at the entrance to the SunRidge Canyon Golf Club has already been replaced.

EPCOR will use a 12-inch iron pipe for the replacement. The iron will be more durable in the rocky ground when properly installed.

The project will be done in four phases beginning with 1,500 feet south from Desert Canyon Drive to Sunset Drive.

Phase II will be a section from the Palisades intersection 400 feet down the hill to the line that has already been replaced.

Phase III will cover 700 feet from Clubhouse Drive to Manzanita Lane.

Phase IV will be the remaining 1,700 feet between Sunset Drive and Manzanita Lane.

Alvarez said design work is wrapping up with plans under final review and construction is expected to begin in January with completion in late spring or early summer. He said a worse case situation could delay completion until September.

Alvarez said they hope to minimize excavation and use boring equipment to run underneath drainage structures. The plan is to minimize inconvenience to residents and motorists.

Councilman Mike Scharnow asked whether their discussions considered a slight delay to avoid winter visitors.

Alvarez said those options were considered in planning. However, he said the number of breaks they had targeted repairs for the first quarter. Also, he noted that water demand increases in the summer months.

“We thought it would be best in the first quarter,” Alvarez said.

Scharnow also asked about the potential cost to water customers.

Alvarez said the project has been included in their capital planning and, fiscally, it’s a relatively small project. He does not anticipate any impact on rate payers due to the line replacement.