Most of the projects on a six-year street plan approved by the Wauneta Village Board will be done as money becomes available, but at least one is a bit more urgent — urgent enough, in fact, that it’s scheduled for work in the next year.
    City Public Works Supervisor Bill Bischoff said a project at the intersection of Valley and Willow streets is first on the list. In fact, it wasn’t even in the plan at all before a water main break at the intersection last year.
    The water main was run into a storm drain there using concrete, which doesn’t allow the main to move as ground shifts, he said. “It’s got to have some give; it’s got to be laid in a bed of sand or something.”
    As the storm drain shifted, the pipe broke off, requiring a temporary fix. “It was a huge water leak and it’d been running down that storm drain and we didn’t even catch it until later,” when a nearby landowner saw water running over his empty lot, Bischoff said.
    The permanent fix will involve removing the existing asphalt, concrete curb and gutter to repair storm sewer, water and sanitary sewer lines, then replacing the street surface  with new, six-inch-inch thick concrete. Village crews will repair the water line and a contractor will repair the sanitary sewer line, which is estimated to cost $10,000.
    The rest of the six-year plan includes projects that are basically street upgrades to concrete surfaces from the existing asphalt.

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