ROANOKE, Va. – It’s been a long couple of days for crews with the Western Virginia Water Authority.
“There have been so many water breaks it’s been hard to put this the standard, the primary and secondary crews to keep up so we had to call additional crews that are not normally on standby,” Maintenance Supervisor Wayne Murrell said.
Throughout the weekend, staff worked around the clock to address line issues across several localities.
Issues at this time of year create messy situations for crews.
“We have like water booths and some have like chest waders and stuff on so that you can keep some of the mud and stuff off you and keep your body temperature calm and comfortable working out because you don’t want to start shivering and starting to get frostbite the entire like and you got to kind of watch each other,” Murrell said.
Now, the Water Authority has had dozens of crews working on windbreaks all throughout our region over the last two or three days. People might be wondering why this happens so far after winter weather it’s because the ground is still so saturated from the snow combined with fluctuating temperatures throughout the day and night.
“You’re getting a freeze-thaw cycle; the ground starts moving from contracting and expanding. It puts stress on that waterline because the soils may move but the waterline does and it’s rigid,” Director Public Relations Sarah Baumgardner said.
With a long winter ahead, the Western Virginia Water Authority is planning on having more crews available to help tackle big projects in the months ahead.