HUNTSVILLE — The City of Huntsville’s main water line that runs from the Trinity River Authority’s surface water plant near the Trinity River to Huntsville’s Palm Street water plant was returned to service Saturday morning.

Jason Pierce, water services superintendent, said water department crews completed repairs on the 30-inch line around 8:30 p.m. Thursday and the new 120-foot section was disinfected throughout the night. 

The water line was filled and pressure and a bacteriological sample was collected Friday morning.

The results came back negative Saturday morning, showing no coliform bacteria growth, and the line was put back in service, Pierce said.

Carol Reed, the city’s Public Utilities director, said the city relied on its seven wells from the time the main line was shut down late March 8 until Saturday morning.

Reed said the wells supply 25 percent of the city’s total water usage, while the TRA plant supplies the remaining 75 percent.

Pierce said the water wells held up and “we never had to do any restrictions.”

A 6- by 8-inch break occurred in a section of the water line that runs through a pasture to the north of Farm Road 2821 and Huntsville High School.

The break occurred in the middle of the pasture and was discovered around 9:30 p.m. March 8 when a Palm Street water plant operator noticed that the elevations in the storage tanks at the location were falling.

Reed said water department crews went out the morning of March 9 and found where the break occurred.

Pierce said between 5,000 and 8,000 gallons of water a minute were lost.

He said they found the leak within two hours of the break and were able to isolate the break by shutting off two valves.

City crews replaced 120 feet of the 30-year-old deteriorated pre-stress, steel wrapped concrete pipe with PVC pipe.

Pierce said late Wednesday he expected 70 feet of water line to be replaced and a worse case scenario of replacing up to 150 feet of the 30-year-old line.

The new line was connected to 100 feet of line that was installed in 2006.

He said 100 feet of line was installed in 2006 in five different locations.

Pierce said roughly 20 miles of the concrete pipe runs from the TRA surface water plant to the city’s Palm Street Water Plant off Sam Houston Avenue.

He said an estimated 600 to 700 feet of the pipe that was originally placed in 1980 has been replaced.

Pierce said he is hoping to have a representative of the pipe manufacturer — Henson — come out and give the city an estimate of how much longer the existing pipe will last.

“We’re hoping to try to get some kind of estimate or determination of how much life the pipe has,” Pierce said, “based upon when it was installed in 1980.

“If it will last another 20 years, we will be ready for it. If it lasts another five or 10 years, that would mean we have to implement some other action.

“Long-term planning is so much easier than short-term planning. We’re hoping they will tell us the pipe will last a few more years. It’s something we need to have on our radar and know where we stand.”