Flagstaff residents will be better protected from flooding and gas service interruptions thanks to a project partnership involving UniSource Energy Services and the City of Flagstaff.
UniSource has collaborated with the city and other entities to carry out major flood mitigation projects made necessary after wildfires left land disposed to runoff.
Since the Museum Fire in 2019, in particular, many residents in newly flood-prone neighborhoods have been forced to put sandbags around their homes to prevent flooding from summer storms as well as from snow or rain runoff.
“It makes the area look like a war zone. This initiative is helping to clean up the neighborhoods and restore them to their pre-flood and pre-fire conditions,” said Richard Perez, Flagstaff District Manager for UniSource.
Starting in late 2024, UniSource crews have relocated gas mainlines, customer service lines, and meters to accommodate newly designed drainage ditches that will reroute water away from homes.
The city replaced washes, often just dirt and natural materials, with concrete culverts that are wider and deeper to handle more water flow. Because of the required excavation, UniSource relocated existing gas lines in those paths.
At Spruce Wash, UniSource employees relocated 2,000 feet of two-inch steel mainline in support of 33 customers, said Travis Puklavetz, Supervisor of Gas Construction and Maintenance for UniSource. That section was completed in January and other projects are continuing this year.
In coordination with the city, UniSource tried to schedule work after monsoon season while also trying to avoid service interruptions during cold weather.
“It’s been a great team effort,” Perez said. “The tricky part with this one was the amount of service lines we had to relocate and the time of year we were doing it. It really took a collaborative effort. We wanted to minimize the impact to the customers as much as possible.”
While the project’s main goal was to prevent flooding, it also will support reliable gas service for customers.
“It’s going to prevent gas lines from getting washed out,” Puklavetz said. “We’re improving those channels for the community and the residents, but it’s also protecting our system.”
In addition to the flood mitigation projects, Flagstaff employees have worked hard to protect residents through fires, floods, and snow, which have been prevalent over the last few years. See a story about our employees’ previous work in Flagstaff.
