Twin Falls wraps up a year-long project to upgrade the waterlines along Hankins Road

TWIN FALLS, Idaho — After almost a full year of work, the City of Twin Falls has put the finishing touches on a project improving water pressure along Hankins Road in southeastern Twin Falls.

(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)

"The waterlines and infrastructure that we have in Twin Falls, that we replaced, just wasn't set up for this type of population," said City of Twin Falls Public Information Officer Josh Palmer.

Southeastern Twin Falls has seen a lot of change over the years, with increased residential and commercial construction.

That change has put significant stress on water, in an area known for water pressure problems, even before the boom in growth.

"In the past, we had some water customers that had very little water pressure and then we have some customers that had too much water pressure. Obviously, with too little water pressure you just get low flow on your tap and high water pressure can actually damage equipment, so we didn't want that," said Palmer.

The year-long infrastructure improvement project, essentially, split the city's water pressurization into two zones to create consistent water pressure for the thousands of residents and businesses in southeast Twin Falls. But the process wasn't easy.

"We had to have a whole series of road closures throughout southeast Twin Falls to disconnect old waterlines, connect new ones, replace valves. It was a really significant project to the tune of about $5 million," said Palmer.

The city hopes the project solves waterline issues and makes water service more reliable for homes and businesses while reducing the risk of water main breaks and leaks due to pressure fluctuations.

The city says it will also enhance fire protection with more consistent water pressure for firefighting efforts.

"It equalizes water pressure in the city of Twin Falls, specifically in the southeast Twin Falls area where we've seen a lot of growth and development in not only residential development but commercial development as well," added Palmer.

In 2017, the community supported the city's commitment to improve aging and insufficient infrastructure with a population boom on the horizon. The Hankins Water Pressure Project is a prime example.

"Working together on the strategic plan, they said it's nice that you guys know the population is coming, now please prepare for it. To their credit (the community) and to the city's credit, I think we've been doing. People see on the front end the road closures and it's just a lot of inconvenience. Well, those inconveniences is so we can build that new infrastructure," said Palmer.

The roughly 5-million-dollar price tag for the project was funded through the city water fund.