By Cary Rosenbaum
The Chronicle

     OMAK – Not much has changed in the sewer replacement project in the last week, as crews continue laying pipe along Oak Street and Dewberry Avenue.
     The new high-density polyethylene pipes are going to last a long time without rot, Public Works Director Todd McDaniel said Monday, holding a piece of thin concrete showing what the old pipes looked like prior to explosion.
     “Unlike this egg-shell thin pipe,” he said, referring to the old concrete pipes.
     The new pipes are “just a good way to do things,” McDaniel said. “It’s cost efficient. And it’s an alternative to ripping up the whole road.”
     McDaniel said crews are using “trenchless technology” to replace the pipe. He compared the small holes on the side of the road to the much large replacement further west on Dewberry.
     Crews are projected to head east within the week, McDaniel said, towards Maple Street and Dewberry Avenue.
     The sewer replacement project began July 30, McDaniel said. The pipe is past its intended useful cycle of 50-60 years.
     The project is expected to be completed in May of 2013.
     Phase 1 has an estimated cost of $2.6 million. The total project is estimated to cost $20.9 million.