Contractor error causes flooding, 22-hour weekend water outage in Avon
After Holy Cross Energy subcontractors hit water main on Saturday, Sunridge Condominiums parking lot flooded, residents lost water
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
The area around Sunridge Condominiums and Agave restaurant in Avon experienced a 22-hour water outage over the weekend after contractors working in the area mistakenly bored through a water main, causing extensive flooding and a water shutdown.
The problem began just after 3:30 p.m. on Saturday when contractors working on a Holy Cross Energy project between Avon and Wolcott drilled into the water main in front of Sunridge Condominiums. The drilling struck the top of the water main and took out a two-foot-long section, immediately causing a large leak that released a significant amount of water into the Sunridge parking lot. The flooding was deep enough in some places that it could flow into cars’ tailpipes.
The initial outage included residences and businesses receiving water from the West Beaver Creek Boulevard line south of the railroad tracks and north of U.S. Highway 6, including Lift View Condominiums, Bridgewater Terrace, Sunridge Condominiums and the Agave complex.
“The team was able to reconfigure the water distribution system to restore service to Lift View and Bridgewater on Saturday evening, so they were not affected for a prolonged period of time,” said Diane Johnson, the communications and public affairs manager for the Eagle River Water & Sanitation District.
Sunridge Condominiums and the Agave complex remained without water until nearly 2 p.m. on Sunday, an outage of approximately 22 hours.
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What happened?
Phase II of Holy Cross Energy’s broadband fiber optic cable installation project, which began in fall 2023 and aims to support enhanced operational controls and increase electric grid resiliency, involves installing fiber along Holy Cross Energy’s existing electric infrastructure from Avon to Wolcott.
A crew employed by Boreworxx, the Texas-based telecommunications and utility underground contractor that was subcontracted to do the site work in Avon, was attempting to access the underground electrical grid when it hit the water main, buried 7 feet underground.
The Avon public works department monitored the project after Holy Cross Energy filed for a permit, but the contractor violated the town’s guidelines for boring when it hit the water main. Avon’s guideline for boring in that area is not to go deeper than 3 feet.
While rumors circulated that the contractor had made similar mistakes in Eagle County, “before being hired for this project, Boreworxx had not worked in Eagle County,” said Jenna Weatherred, vice president of member and community relations for Holy Cross Energy. “Therefore, there were no prior incidents in Eagle County.”
Bonfire Construction and Engineering out of Denver was hired by Holy Cross Energy as the primary contractor on the project. Boreworxx passed Bonfire’s safety protocol review, including multiple reference checks and a review of OSHA-recorded incidents, Weatherred said.
Dealing with the water main
Eagle River Water & Sanitation District on-call staff was notified of the water main damage just before 4 p.m. Three on-call operators were dispatched to the site immediately and were on-site within about an hour, where they remained until 9:30 p.m. The crew assessed the damage and immediately began controlling the leak and stormwater flooding.
“The shutdown of the water main was complicated due to the complex infrastructure in the area,” Johnson said. That specific water main is “adjacent to (the water district’s) main water production facility and has a complex piping network of the high (Avon) and low (Edwards) pressure zones.”
Crews had to work closely with the district’s water treatment operators to ensure that safe levels were maintained in the low-zone water storage tanks. Additionally, “crews were pulled away during the initial response to assist with storm drainage issues (to prevent flooding and property damage),” Johnson said.
Crews were able to isolate the leak, and to reconfigure the water distribution system to back feed most customers with water and limit the size of the outage area, by 9 p.m., Johnson said.
Water district crews also secured a contractor on Saturday evening to begin excavation work on Sunday morning to complete the repair, which took place beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday.
The water main repair was completed, and service was restored to all customers by 2 p.m. Sunday.
What comes next?
The contractor will be expected to pay all costs, said Eva Wilson, Avon’s public works director, during the Tuesday, Nov. 12, Town Council meeting. Avon, the water district and the Sunridge Homeowner’s Association are compiling documentation of the financial impacts, including, potentially, restitution for the condominium residents who went without water for 22 hours.
On Monday, Nov. 11, representatives from Holy Cross Energy, Bonfire Construction and Engineering, Eagle River Water & Sanitation District and the town of Avon met to discuss the incident and work on potential solutions, including how to effectively collaborate to complete the project by the end of the year.
The suggestions included mitigating risk by having a water district representative on-site for all drilling operations and communicating schedule changes to the town of Avon to provide transparency to the affected community on West Beaver Creek Boulevard, Weatherred said.
Eagle River Water & Sanitation District staff and town of Avon staff have also started working together “to strengthen right of way permit requirements to protect ERWSD infrastructure (such as drilling activities staying within the permitted depth),” Johnson said.
