Another flume failure: Water pipe fails during weekend rains

(Times Gazette) – A steady amount of rain over the Thanksgiving holiday in November caused another failure of the underground flume system in Shelbyville, TN — causing the flume to rise by over two feet.

According to a preliminary inspection, it appears the new 36-inch storm water pipe that runs adjacent to the flume tube failed — with this release allowing water to get into the open trench and then underneath the new flume tube, according to city manager Jay Johnson.

Councilman Henry Fieldhaus said a portion of the flume collapsed Sunday morning, August 23, 2015 between the fire and police stations, likely due to heavy rains over the weekend. The collapse has caused the fire station, police department and county jail to be without water.

The flume leads the city’s storm water to the Duck River. It’s been in place since 1962.

There had been two previous collapses at the flume in 2015, one in June and one in January.

“The replacement tube has been manufactured, it’s on a truck on its way here, and we had anticipated starting the replacement process for the first two failures areas tomorrow,” said Jay Johnson, city manager of Shelbyville. That work was set to cost the city $1.6 million, according to the city manager.

“This is an extraordinary event and by all indications it was not lack of maintenance or that the tube was in trouble, it appears to be an external event that created this problem,” said Johnson.

Click here for link to story. (Times Gazette)