Repairing leaky pipe at park lake could cost up to $25,000

Fixing the leak in the South County Park lake could cost $10,000 to $25,000 and may require digging up a corroded overflow pipe, Cape Girardeau County public works director Don McQuay said Monday.

During a meeting with the county commission, McQuay brought a two-foot section of the badly corroded pipe and a video recording of the interior of the pipe to demonstrate the problem. The pipe section, of which a third or more had rusted away, was cut away from the discharge end of the overflow pipe to allow the insertion of the recording device.

The video recording showed that there are few locations where the full steel pipe remains intact.

The most expensive option, McQuay said, would be to insert a vinyl sleeve the length of the pipe to seal it. That would cost an estimated $25,000. Replacing the pipe with a new steel pipe could cost as little as $10,000, but it would require digging up the drainpipe, which runs through the middle of the dam that created the lake, he said.

Repairing similar problems at other lakes "is commonly done that way," McQuay said. "But the whole thing about putting a new pipe in is the compaction" of the soil after the repair.

Commissioner Jay Purcell asked about the possibility of placing a smaller pipe through the rotting metal pipe, but McQuay said he wasn't sure it would work.

There is a constant stream of water running through the pipe even when the intake is well above the water level. Wave action of high water has washed away some of the base below the opening, allowing water to soak through the soil and into the pipe.

To prevent future leaking, county highway administrator Scott Bechtold estimated 400 tons of rock would need to be poured across the 500-foot dam at a cost of about $2,800.

McQuay said he wasn't ready to make a recommendation on the best method for repairing the leak. Commissioners instructed him to continue his research.

Commissioners on Monday also discussed other repairs needed at the park. Two culverts under the road that circles the lake must be replaced, at a cost Bechtold estimated at $5,600. In addition, the county is removing the deteriorating railroad ties that line the drainage ditch that feeds water into the lake.

The culverts are already collapsing, McQuay said, and the road has sunk three or four inches in one spot. "It is just going to keep getting worse and it will fall through if we don't do something."

In North County Park, across Kingshighway, the county will be pricing metal roofing to replace leaking wood and shingle roofs on the two largest picnic shelters, McQuay said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126