Water Main Repairs

Fire Hydrant Replacement on Via Maria Theresia

MANITOU SPRINGS CO – The City of Manitou Springs’ Public Works Department will be replacing a malfunctioning fire hydrant on Via Maria Theresia, therefore resulting in a water disruption on Wednesday, May 17th from 8AM-5PM for the following addresses:

1 -17 Via Maria Theresia

When turning off the water, Public Works may need to disrupt an additional area, but it most likely will not. This possible disruption would affect:

14-30 El Paso Boulevard

Please note, after the water connection is restored, discolored water and low water pressure are normal. Please run your bathtub tap on cold until the issue is resolved.

This work is tentative given severe weather or emergency issues.

With Manitou Springs being a beautiful historic location comes many positives like our beautiful Victorian style homes, quaint downtown, and long standing history, but, with a long history comes old infrastructure: something the City places as one of its highest priorities. Though we spend all-year hard at work refurbishing, replacing, and maintaining our water lines, main breaks and leaks do occur. This page will serve as a resource to help understand how the City approaches water main repairs.

Water main breaks in Manitou Springs are usually caused by a rapid freeze-thaw cycle, where the temperatures outside quickly go from warm to cold, resulting the underground pressures increasing on our water mains. This rapid pressure change can put unneeded forces on our water mains, that sometimes result in a weak-spot in the system failing.

The other way in which water main breaks happen is if a contractor or homeowner strikes a water main when performing construction. It is extremely important that three days prior to any digging, you contact co811.org!

The City updates our Water Main Break Notification System once a month with Xpress Bill Pay's customer list. It is extremely important that you have a valid email and cell phone number associated with your Xpress Bill Pay account. To update your information, please contact our water billing office, or create an account with our alert system CivicReady. xbp-logo

When a water alert is distributed via our Water Main Break Notification System, we may state that you may be in a "definite outage area". This means that you will lose water connection during the repair. 

When a water alert is distributed via our Water Main Break Notification System, we may state that you may be in a "possible outage area". This means that you may lose water connection during the repair.

Staff strives to always be exact with our notifications, but we may have to increase the area experiencing a disruption if a valve is not holding.

It is our goal to provide advanced notice of a shutoff whenever possible, but there are many factors that contribute to whether advanced notice is possible. Some of these factors include:

  • Is this planned work that we have scheduled, or an emergency response
  • How much water is leaking from the pipe
  • Is the leaking water creating hazardous conditions (ice buildup, etc.)
  • Does the water leak have an ability to harm life or property
  • Does Staff expect the leak to worsen
  • What are the City's current water storage situation - would it be environmentally conscious to lose water 
  • How many households/businesses are going to be affected by this shutoff
  1. Fill water safe plastic containers with water for drinking and cooking.
  2. Keep a spare hand sanitizer so you can keep your hands clean!
  3. Fill buckets or your bathtub with water so you can refill your toilet reservoir and continue to flush your toilet. 

Please have a plan for either short-term water storage or a second location that you can stay at, if a water main repair is affecting your home.

Repairing water mains is a complex process, and the repair time can range from a couple of hours, to a couple of days. No two water main repairs are the same due to the location of the repair, how large the repair must be, and the environment surrounding the pipe. The repair process is, roughly, as follows:

  1. A city staffer manually digging under a water main with a shovel.Traffic control will be put in place for the safety of the motorists and crews working on the main repair
  2. Emergency locators will be called in to survey the area and mark any underground utilities
  3. Emergency Response Water Main Repair Crews will then begin to excavate in the area to expose the pipe.
  4. Crews will then locate the nearest valves and shut the water connection off
    1. This step may take place earlier, depending on the amount of water being lost
  5. The water main will then be analyzed and a plan to make the repair will be formulated
  6. Crews will make the appropriate repair
  7. The repair will be tested, and the water connection will be reestablished.

Most water main repairs are complete in 6-8 hours, but longer repairs are possible. The length of time it takes to make a repair is usually dependent on the availability of supplies, the utilities surrounding the water main, weather, and complexity of the break.

After a water main repair, discolored water and/or low water pressure are normal. Please run your bathtub tap on cold to resolve the issue.