By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The city is weighing options for curing rusty water in several neighborhoods.

The culprit is the network of old cast-iron pipes that brings water to Lewiston homes.

“We have about 160 miles of water mains and about 40 miles of that is unlined cast-iron pipe,” said Public Services Director David Jones. Cast iron is durable, but it can rust eventually. That has happened in several mains around the city.

The city began getting complaints about rust-colored water in the spring. Officials responded by opening hydrants in the worst areas to flush out the lines

But problems are still being reported in 10 neighborhoods, including Bushey Circle and several places along Montello Street.

“The issues coming in are of varying degrees, from having water that’s a little yellow to being unbelievably bad,” Jones said.

Jones has two possible solutions. The less expensive option is to clean and line the pipes, running a large drill bit through them and coating the insides with a thin layer of concrete.

“In some cases, we don’t know if that will work because of the age of the pipes,” Jones said. He’s afraid the drill bit used to clean the insides could collapse the older, more decayed pipes.

That would leave digging up the old pipes and replacing them with newer concrete-lined metal pipes. It’s expensive and slow work.

“I suspect the City Council is going to want to do something quickly to resolve the problem, and I agree with that,” Jones said. He’s scheduled present cost estimates to the council at its meeting July 18.

“Our current budget for this work is about $80,000, and that will pay for one small main replacement,” Jones said. “It won’t pay for much beyond that. And with 10 or 15 problem areas around town, $80,000 won’t be enough to clean and line everything.”

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