Published: September 11, 2008 08:11 pm      

NMHS students are sent home early after unmarked waterline hit

FAIRMONT — A water service interruption caused by construction on the projected 13-mile public waterline from Fairmont to Mannington along U.S. Route 250 gave North Marion High School students and staff the afternoon off Thursday.

In two weeks, this was the second time students were sent home early for a water problem caused by the project, which is slated to service Mannington’s municipal customer base through Fairmont’s system when complete. On Sept. 4, the contractors accidentally hit two unmarked service lines, which was the cause of the first service shut-off.

City utilities manager Dave Sago said contractors working in the area hit an unmarked waterline near the high school Thursday, generating another service shut-off until it could be fixed.

Sago said he talked to Gary Price, administrative assistant of the Marion County Board of Education, around 11 a.m. when the problem occurred, and North Marion principal Judd Ashcraft said the students were dismissed at 12:30 p.m.

And thanks to quick response time and diligent work from the city, the contractors and the engineers, Sago said service was restored by early afternoon, and all after-school activities were still held. He said there would be no problem with students returning to school at normal time today and he hopes this will be the last time the school’s service would be interrupted.

“Hopefully there will be no more interruption in their service. That’s our goal,” Sago said. “It’s unfortunate, but we’re going to try and keep moving to make sure we don’t interrupt anything more in the future.”

He said that the project should move past the school soon, and he hopes that the utility lines of other residents and businesses along the way are not affected as construction progresses.

“You always have the chance of hitting unmarked lines,” Sago said. “We are hoping all the lines are marked and the contractor does due diligence to make sure no more waterlines are disturbed.”

E-mail Mallory Panuska at mpanuska@timeswv.com.