The Curious case of the missing manholes
Missing manholes have officials scratching heads

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Helen Davis
Cibols County Bureau

GRANTS — In spite of the mystery of the missing manholes, the sewer problem in downtown Grants is being addressed.

The Community Outreach Center, who has suffered the worst from sewer backup, Loeffler’s Guns, Etc. and The Main Street Shoppe will not see relief immediately for slow drainage and sewage problems, but Anthony Martinez, project manager for CH2M Hill OMI in Grants said the agency is working on the problem daily.

Finding the exact cause of a flow reduction that prevents private plumbing from draining into the city sewer mains has been complicated by what appears to be a case of manhole winking out of existence. OMI has attempted to locate the expected access points with metal detectors and manhole finding equipment, Martinez said, with no luck.

The contract company in Grants requested an in-hole pipe camera from OMI’s Farmington office this week. Martinez said he expects to have the camera on Monday, but until workers can look into the sewer mains to determine what is going on underground, the cause of the backup is just speculation.

The most likely cause of a backup would be a blockage, and the most likely cause of a blockage would be a pipe collapse, several engineers and repair workers have suggested.

How long repairs will take will depend on what the problem turns out to be.

Maritinez said that in some cases, the city would have to request a permit to tear up the road, which takes time, but in other cases OMI might be able to perform an emergency repair that does not require permitting through the state highway department. If repair work is simple, OMI can do the job themselves; but if it is large enough, they would have to seek assistance from the highway department.

Don Saye, a manager for the Community Outreach Center, said the center closed voluntarily nearly three weeks ago because of sewage back up.

“If you serve hot food, you have to have a rest room for people,” he said. The center is handing out sack lunches to the hungry but cannot allow anyone into the facility.
Saye said that last week, someone tried using a drain-clearing chemical in the center toilet, but rather than clearing the drain, the chemical backed up, creating gas and odor in the building until volunteers stuffed plastic bags into the toilet opening.

The manager added that when a plumber snaked out the pipes as far as the other side of the median, all he pulled out of the pipe was a bit of plastic.

Saye speculates that the plastic came from a main pipe. At one time, some cities did use plastic mains, some of which were recalled by the manufacturers a number of years ago.
Right now, no one knows what the pipes are made of or how old they are. Martinez said the old pipes in Grants may be layered concrete and asbestos lined with steel. District Engineer Larry Maynard of the Department of Transportation District 6, said it is possible the pipes are ceramic, but no one can be sure.

Maynard worked on the rebuild of U.S. Highway 66/Santa Fe Avenue in 1995. He said road crews marked every manhole with plywood and raised the access to road level. Consulting “as built” plans, Maynard said that along Santa Fe Avenue from approximately First Street Cafe to George Hanosh Road, there should be 37 manholes accessible, or around 17 per mile. Martinez said the general rule on manholes in one every 300 feet or whenever the pipe changes direction. A quarter-mile is 1,320 feet — the stretch of road along the businesses should have a few access points but so far only one has turned up in the area.

Whether the manholes are actually missing or are clustered in another part of Santa Fe Avenue is unknown.