A water service line replacement project is underway at the Perry Elementary School, with Holbrook Construction of Yale replacing the school’s original ductile iron pipe with PVC pipe.
The elementary school’s service line has been a chronic source of trouble for the district, including forcing a two-day closure of the school in May 2017 following a break in the pipe. The original service line was laid when the school was built in 1991.
The cost to the school district of replacing the water service line is $35,000, according to Perry Community School District Superintendent Clark Wicks. The price falls just short of the $36,000 threshold set by Iowa Code for requiring competitive quotations for public improvement projects.
Perry Water Works Superintendent Hank Schmidt said the non-corrosive PVC pipe would be an improvement on the original iron service line. He said “hot soils” in the area of the service line caused repeated breaks in the older pipe.
