Algonac City Council thanks all involved
By Barb Pert Templeton
A recent water main break that stopped water service to Harsens Island last weekend prompted plenty of thank-yous at the most recent Algonac City Council meeting.
The topic was introduced by Lance Surdy, superintendent of the Clay Township Water Department, who spoke during the public comments portion of the Dec. 17 Algonac City Council meeting.
“I would like to say thank-you to the city, thank-you to your fire dept. thank-you to your water department and thank-you for all your assistance on the Harsens Island water break,” Surdy said, He was referring to an incident that occurred on Dec. 13 that cutoff water to the island due to an underwater watermain break.
Surdy said it was so nice to work together on the issue.
City council members praised Algonac Fire Chief Joseph Doan for his assistance with the recent water main break on Harsens Island.
“We’ve done a great job, we’ve got it back in service I just have to wait for my samples to come back so hopefully, my goal is before Christmas,” Surdy said, referring to a boil water alert put in place until officials could access the quality of the water.
“Mr. Surdy, I’d like to congratulate you and your department and everybody that took part in it including our fire department and DPW,” Mayor Rocky Gillis said, noting they all thought the water main break was going to be a long-drawn-out thing. “What you guys pulled off in a weekend was amazing, congratulations to all of you.”
Surdy said having the use of the Algonac fire boat made it easy to jet right under the area where the water main was damaged to get the fix done.
During council comments at the end of the meeting Councilman Ed Carter said he saw a great show over the weekend of all the departments working together to help restore water to Harsens Island.
“Everybody getting together to provide water and comfort for the island and it was amazing to see how quickly everybody worked and made it happen,” Carter said.
Mayor Pro Tem Dawn Davey said she knows how hard the community worked to get the water main repaired over the weekend.
“I was shocked that they were able to get that done by Sunday, the amount of work that all these people put into it – which could not have been done without all these great people working together,” Davey said.
Councilwoman Wendy Meldrum thanked the city’s fire department, DPW and water department and said it felt good to be able to turn a hand and help out another community.
“Congratulations to our fire department, our DPW and our water plant for helping out with the water break,” Councilwoman Cathy Harris said.
Councilman Jacob Skarbek said one of the best parts of living in a small town is the relationship you can make with other communities.
“It’s awesome that we have a relationship with our departments and the Clay Township departments that we can work hand in hand together that smoothly and be able to turn something that was so drastic and turn it around so quick,” Skarbek said. “These guys were out there day and night working on this and I want to thank all our departments and Clay Township for working on this with us.”
During his public comments Gillis said he wanted to congratulate the Clay Township DPW again on a fantastic job responding to the water main event.
He also offered thanks to Algonac’s DPW and the city’s fire chief.
“I know Mrs. Gerstenberg went out of town and you (Algonac Fire Chief Joe Doan) became acting city manager and then he had to be on site at a watermain break,” Gillis said. “Thank you, Chief Doan I appreciate everything you do.”
A little background on the issue
Justin Westmiller, the director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for St. Clair County, previously told Blue Water Healthy Living that the pipe had been repaired and there’s water flowing to the island but there is a boil water alert until further notice.
Ballard Underwater Construction was hired to repair the pipe line in the St. Clair River.
Westmiller said the team went into the river to scout out and assess the situation on Friday, Dec. 13 and found the problem. They returned to the water on both Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 14 and 15 and made the necessary repairs and water was flowing to the island by 11 p.m. on Sunday night.
The repair was done in water that was over six foot in depth and 25 pounds of air pressure was utilized to find the problem. Westmiller added that the site of the incident fell about 100 feet from the shore of the island.
“A patch was placed on the pipe, one that is expected to be permanent,” he added.
