The contractor building a 40-plus mile pipeline north of Powell has broken several utility lines, prompting concern by Northwest Rural Water District, the potable water provider the contractor is building the line for.

An unusual number of utility lines are being damaged, said Dossie Overfield, Northwest manager.

Western Municipal Construction has crossed 550 utility lines, meaning they went under or had to work around those lines in the trench, said Cody Schatz of Engineering Associates, the firm that designed the project.

“My count shows that they crossed around 145 gas lines on this project,” Schatz said. Of those, “they have hit around 10 percent, or around 14 gas lines.”

Montana Dakota Utilities, Centurylink, Shoshone Irrigation District and Garland Light and Power have complained to Overfield about Western breaking lines, she said at the weekly construction meeting at Engineering Associates in Powell on Aug. 19.

Still, that is not Northwest Rural’s problem.

Wyoming statutes state broken lines are the responsibility of the utility whose line is broken and the excavator that broke the line, Overfield said. Engineering Associates always requests utility line locations during the design phase, Overfield said.

“Wyoming law requires everyone who owns underground facilities in the state to be a member of One Call of Wyoming,” stated One Call of Wyoming on its website. “At least two business days before you intend to dig, call 811 (or if you are calling from out-of-state, 1-800-849-2476).”

Western checks locations when necessary. “That’s my understanding,” Overfield said.

Western has had nine or 10 water leaks in 25 miles of pipe. “This is still high, since our last project had two leaks in 15 miles,” Schatz said.

However, Western had 15 miles of pipe that have passed a pressure test.

“Western has a warranty for one year after the system has been put into service,” Schatz said. “This means they have to fix any warranty problems in that year without cost to the owner.”

Western employees present at the Aug. 19 meeting would not comment to the Tribune following the meeting, referring questions to the owner instead. Repeated attempts to reach Jock Clause, Western Municipal Construction president, failed.

Typical of rights-of-way — including this project and other utilities such as power, telephone, fiber optics, cable and water — construction projects bury utility lines along the side of the road because it’s cheaper than digging up roads and replacing asphalt. All are trying to fit their lines in the same 60-foot-wide right-of-way.

Western has worked on this project for 10 months and has installed 40 of the 42 miles of pipe. Of the 231 meter pits, only 10 remained to be installed in late August. Water should be served from Northwest Rural sometime in October or November, Schatz said.

The approximate $8.1 million project began last fall. After two of North End Water Users Inc.’s three wells exceeded Environmental Protection Agency nitrate standards in 2009, former North End users agreed to have Northwest Rural take over potable water delivery to them and to allow Northwest to replace North End’s aging water-delivery system.