Emergency repairs planned to protect drinking water for Monroeville, Plum residents

Emergency repairs are expected to begin Monday to anchor a major transmission line that supplies drinking water to Monroeville and Plum.

Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials said last week’s heavy rains caused a landslide in an area on a hillside near the county line in Murrysville that exposed a 24-inch cast iron pipe installed six years ago as part of a lucrative deal to sell water from the Beaver Run Reservoir in Bell to the two Allegheny County municipalities.

The landslide took away the ground under a portion of the water pipe. Additional rain could result in another landslide that makes a potential rupture more likely, officials said.

“If it breaks, it will be a big problem,” said authority assistant manager Jack Ashton.

Rupture of the line would leave about 45,000 customers without drinking water, officials said.

Authority board members on Friday approved up to $500,000 for the transmission line repairs. The exact cost of the project is still being determined. Contractors were at the work site this week to determine the scope of the job.

Work crews are expected to drill concrete pylons into the bedrock to support the pipe in the area where the landslide carried the hillside away.