Water Line Leaks & Upgrades
It all started with a water leak at the campground bathhouse when we opened the campground this past spring. We dug and dug around the building trying to find the leak. Finally the only possible place the leak could be happening was UNDER the bathhouse. Oh dear. We couldn't move the bathhouse to find the broken pipe. What are we to do? Enter Dave and Marc Litwiller from Litwiller Farm Drainage out of Hopedale, IL. They have a machine that can drill horizontally. Could they, would they be willing to come help us solve our problem? They DID just in time for the summer season! What an answer to prayer!!
Using the directional drill (see the left picture), they made two drills. One completely under the bathhouse to tie together the well head and the main side of camp. The second drill had to end up in the pit in the bathhouse (see the hole in the floor in the building in the right picture). They did it perfectly! WOW!! We think they're amazing.
And then they asked "Is there anything else you would like us to dig?" Is there? Well, actually, yes. Most definitely yes! At least 4 times in the last 10 years, the water lines to Pine Grove Staff House have frozen and stayed frozen for several weeks to over a month. That's a long time without running water. Could they run a new water line to Pine Grove Staff House? And they did! Dave and Marc came back a week later and got it done. Another answer to prayer!!
(See the red flags? That is the path of the new line.)
While Dave was tracing the old water lines to Pine Grove he found out some areas of the water lines were only around 2 feet deep. Yikes! No wonder they were freezing. Hummmm.....maybe we should check the depths of the other water lines.
The water lines to the hotel buildings had areas that were only 1.5-2 feet deep. How had they not frozen in recent years?!?! "We could fix that too, but it would have to be later this year," they said. Most definitely! We won't be able to sleep this winter knowing that the water lines are so shallow! So Dave and Marc returned this past November. And if you are familiar with people in this business....after harvest before the ground is frozen is prime work time for people in farm drainage work. They came during their prime time because they knew it was important to get done before winter. WHAT A GIFT!
Now the water lines from the main camp well head are all now 6-8 feet deep underground with no danger of freezing. Peace of mind!
Two added blessings of this project are there are now tracer wires run with each water line so we can find them later and there are now direct water lines to each building from the well head. There used to be only 1 trunk line with underground splits for the two hotel buildings, the pool, and Pine Grove Staff House. This meant when we did a project or there was a water problem, every building on that line had to have it's water turned off. Now each building is separate. What a blessing!
Oh and did we mention, they donated all of their labor for this? They did. They probably wouldn't like us to make a big deal of it, but it is a big deal to us. Thank you! Thank you! You have been God's hands to us.
