WOODWARD TOWNSHIP, Pa (WJAC) -- A drilling company working in Clearfield County is facing a major setback after some tampering with their materials.
The superintendent from C & R Directional Boring told 6 News thousands of feet of pipe were ready to be installed and one of them was already in the ground before someone realized something was wrong.
“The stack here that’s all destroyed is 10 different sections, about 4,000 feet,” said Rob Inguagiato, superintendent. “We have another street where there’s about 1,600 feet also destroyed.”
C & R Directional Boring has been working to install a new water line in Houtzdale.
Inguagiato said crews stack 400-foot-long combined sections of pipe on the side of the road before installation.
“Probably within the last month or so, we’ve been working on fusing all this pipe together and getting it ready to be installed,” Inguagiato said.
On Wednesday, crews discovered at least 200 holes had been drilled into the pipes, making them useless.
“The damage that was done he was probably done between last Thursday night and sometime Monday morning,” Inguagiato said.
Inguagiato said his crews had already installed one section of pipe.
He said they pulled the pipe from the ground first thing this morning and a pressure test revealed it has holes, too.
“The Houtzdale water authority has already told me they want this pipe removed and they’re not going to except it,” Inguagiato said. “They want to brand new pipe installed. So, it is a total loss.”
Inguagiato said the pipes cost $80,000 to replace and it puts his crews a month behind.
He said an insurance investigation is ongoing to determine if the cost of the pipe will be covered.
Inguagiato said he feels increases in water costs drive incidents like this, but the tampering is misguided.
“It really doesn’t hurt the authority to pass through the ordinance to have a water line installed. It only hurts the contractor,” Inguagito said. “So, it really doesn’t make any sense for them to do what they’re doing. You’re going to be prosecuted and that this is an action you want to do.”
Inguagiato said this could have been 10 times worse if all the pipe had been installed before they realized there was a problem. He said the reward for information leading to an arrest in this case has increased from $5,000 to $10,000
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