Monday, January 26, 2026 |
Photo – City crews work on broken water line – Courtesy City of Rawlins
Rawlins crews continue to respond to water line breaks.
Two weeks ago, Rawlins public works crews responded to a major water main break south of Interstate 80. Speaking at the January 20th Rawlins City Council meeting, Public Works Director Cody Dill explained that in the early morning hours of Saturday, January 10th, water treatment plant employees noticed a loss of pressure near Exit 211 on I80. Crews immediately shut off water to the affected area but were unable to locate the source of the leak until the sun rose.
The previous day, city crews discovered a break in the high-pressure line, on the corner of Colorado and East Front Streets, necessitating a temporary closure of the nearby vehicle underpass. The same line experienced a similar rupture in May of 2024.
Continuing his report, Public Works Director Dill said crews first called 811 to locate underground utilities, such as gas and electric lines. Once the utilities were marked, workers dug up the line and repaired the break. Dill said water was restored within an hour and a half, and pressure was back to normal by Sunday.
Dill said his team removed and replaced 60 feet of 20-inch PVC water line. Between equipment, labor, and material costs, the public works director said the repair cost the city approximately $21,000.
Dill expressed his gratitude for how quickly the public works crew fixed the water main break.
During the outage, residents in the affected area were asked to conserve water by taking short showers and delaying laundry until repairs were completed. Until then, homes and businesses would be using water stored in the Painted Hills and Hospital tanks, which were 50 percent full at the time.
During the January 20th City Council meeting, Mayor Jacquelin Wells and Public Works Director Cody Dill thanked the public for complying with the conservation order. Responding to a question from Vice Mayor Darril Garner, Dill said the city’s new computerized water‑treatment plant control system, called SCADA, was able to detect the decreased water usage. The public works director added that the SCADA system, installed last fall, has performed reliably.
In light of the most recent break, Councilman Derek Elliott asked how proactive the public works department is in preventing future failures. Dill replied that the high-pressure water lines are scheduled to be replaced. However, several other projects will take priority, including revitalizing the Sage Creek Spring boxes, repairing the 32 miles of transmission lines that carry water from the springs to the Rawlins Water Treatment Plant, and replacing the cathodic protection system that prevents the buried steel pipe from corroding. Last summer, the city received $2.835 million from the Wyoming Water Development Commission to fund the cathodic protection work. Dill said he can begin repairing the high-pressure lines once those jobs are finished.
The high‑pressure line, specifically where it runs under Interstate 80, is one of four high‑priority projects identified in the 2022 Wyoming Water Development Office water master plan. That work, along with revitalizing the Sage Creek Springs, repairing blow‑off valves and cathodic protection on the transmission line from the springs to the water treatment plant, and replacing the city’s two treated‑water storage tanks, is estimated to cost $50 million, money the city does not have. Despite the lack of funding, design work on the spring boxes is scheduled to be completed this spring, with construction set to begin once a funding source is secured.
In the meantime, the city is using the Wyoming Water Development Commission grant to design a plan to replace the blow‑off valves and cathodic protection on the water transmission line. As Rawlins continues to wait for funding to address its aging water infrastructure, crews will keep responding to line breaks.
