By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer

KEYSER – Keyser work crews labored this week to improve water service to residents of Richmond Street, where aging lines have limited supplies to a trickle when others in the neighborhood drew water for laundry or showers.
Walter and Frances Bartlett were among the first to build on Richmond Street, located just off lower Chestnut Street. When they built their home more than 60 years ago, no other houses drew from the 1 inch water line serving Richmond Street. As other homes were built and residents switched from wells to public water, the supply was taxed.
In the past year, two new homes were built just above the Bartletts, and that proved to be the difference. Ever since, when the water dropped to a trickle in the Bartlett home, the couple knew that one of the other five homes on the line was doing laundry or using the shower.
“They’d be washing clothes and I’d turn on the spigot and just get drops,” Frances said.
Walter Bartlett, a member of the city’s Water Board, took to starting his day early to beat the morning rush on water use. “I’d get up at 5 in the morning to get a shower,” he said.
All that changed for the
Bartletts Monday afternoon, when the city tied the home into a new 2-inch plastic line that crews laid last week.
Water Department Supervisor Sonny Gank knocked on residents’ doors as they were hooked up, to let them know their lives had just changed for the better.
“It’s all taken care of now,” Frances said with a laugh. “I’ve got more water now than I know what to do with.”
The project involved digging a trench about 4 feet deep the length of Richmond Street and laying 620 feet of the new plastic line, which was tied into the water system and charged while the old line continued to operate. Crews then excavated the taps and tied the houses into the new line one at a time. The project was expected to wrap up by midweek.
“They had pressure, they just didn’t have volume,” Gank said. “This will increase the volume. One house won’t know when another’s using water.”
Beyond the increased use brought on by new home construction, the problem on Richmond Street was made worse by the nature of the old galvanized lines. Gank said the city for years used water from Limestone Dam which was heavy in calcium, and the calcium accumulated on the inside of the lines.
“It doesn’t corrode, it builds up,” Gank said. “A 2-inch pipe in Keyser is now about the size of a 1 inch pipe.”
Gank said Keyser has about 5 miles of galvanized lines in the city’s water system. And while the calcium-rich water from Limestone is no longer used, any deposits will remain in the lines until they are replaced. “Once it’s there, it’s there,” Gank said.