Demolition

demo

       Helping Us Will Help You

  • Call the city before demolition, excavation, or land grading.
  • Terminate services properly to save on future costs for new taps, meter boxes, grinder pumps, etc.
  • Have the city GPS the locations of services for future reference.

I am writing to ask for your help in improving a small but critical part of protecting our water and sewer system – terminating water and sewer services during demolition, excavation, and land grading.

It is a big advantage for property owners and builders when an existing water or sewer service tap or grinder station can be re-used. But, when the service can’t be found or is damaged, the owner has to pay for a new one, and that can be several hundred or a few thousand unnecessary dollars.

Open or crushed sewer services allow rainwater into the system, contributing to sewer system overflows. Buried water services or buried or crushed water meter boxes can lead to leaks in the water system. Grinder pump stations with broken lids or cracked sidewalls allow rainwater into the system.

The water and sewer bills we all pay have to cover all the system costs, even for extra capacity to handle problems caused by those who cause damage in the system.


HOW YOU CAN HELP

When you plan to take down an existing building that is connected to the water or sewer system, please make a call to Kim Kitchens (501-321-6654) or Sarah Miller (501-321-6861) in City Engineering and let them know. They will have our water and sewer system staff contact you and meet on the job to help make sure the connection is terminated properly. This also applies to excavation or grading work on sites with existing water or sewer services.

Your schedule can be busy and so can ours - a 24-hour head-up call would work best.


The plumber or excavation contractor is responsible for closing out the service properly. The city will not bring equipment or materials to the job, but is available to inspect and make sure it is terminated properly.

Another big advantage is that the city will use their updated GPS unit to identify the location of the service or meter box or grinder station and enter it into our city GIS system so it can be easily relocated and re-connected in the future. This will save a lot of your time trying to locate an old service.

  • Water and sewer and pressure sewer service lines should be terminated at (or within 10 feet) of the property line or just behind the curb or sidewalk or at the private property side of the top of the road ditch.
  • To properly close out a service, excavate and expose the pipe, make a clean, square cut, clean the ends, install a proper plug or cap made of the same material as the pipe, install a tee post for a locator, and carefully back-fill with clean, rock free, fill to prevent damage to the pipe.
  • Call the city and our inspector will come by to inspect the termination and GPS the location.
  • It goes without saying I know that you should call and have the water meter turned off before you demo a building. It may be best to have the meter pulled if there is not going to be any use for a period of time.
  • Of course, the electrical for the grinder station should be turned off. We need to GPS that grinder station location too. A tee post with flagging or a surround of orange construction fencing will help protect the grinder station.
  • When the site is left alone and weeds grow up, the next dozer operator on the site weeks or months later will appreciate all this.

Thank you for helping protect our valuable water and sewer systems.

Monty Ledbetter, Utilities Director