Moberly water infrastructure problem

The water pipes in Moberly are forty-to-sixty years old.

It is the weather and the old pipes that are the cause of the water main breaks.

The city of Moberly is talking about asking citizens to approve a bond issue to fix the very expensive water system problem. They hope to also get some federal help.

Last week, a fourteen-inch cast iron water main broke close to the tower last week, which zapped the city’s water pressure and left them with a P.S.I. below 20. It left the city without clean running water for days.

We did some investigation as to why this is happening. Moberly’s City Manager, Brian Crane, said, “with the weather situation and the aging infrastructure in the ground, it is hard on the old pipes.”

The major problem is that cast iron pipes are no longer used. They are also half a century old.

The entire city of Moberly is in need of an updated water infrastructure system.

It is difficult to analyze how bad the problem is Crane said, “it’s really hard to put a number on how bad your pipe is, because you’re talking about stuff that could be five-to-ten feet into the ground, so it’s hard to get an analysis of what we think is good pipe or bad.”

Crane has seen cost estimates between five and ten million dollars to replace the system. The city’s Mayor, Jerry Jeffrey, said they have enough emergency funds on hand to fix future breaks, but the plan is replace as they go.

Jeffrey said, “we keep a reserve fund for that particular area and the city itself also has reserves, so we’re very conservatively managed as a community.”

Moberly voters could see a bond issue to fix the aging water system as soon as next year.