MUD working to make metro's gas infrastructure stronger and safer with $10 million grant
The Metropolitan Utilities District is working to make the metro's gas infrastructure stronger and safer, and it's getting $10 million in federal funds to do it.
MUD is currently updating pipes that have been in place for decades or, in some cases, centuries.
More than 420 miles of mains out of 560 have already been replaced.
Outside of the Lynch family home of nearly 40 years, near 36th and Cass streets, MUD is replacing the natural gas pipes.
"This house was built in 1932, and it's probably one of the newer ones," John Lynch said.
And the pipes underneath the Lynch family's neighborhood may be even older than the houses.
"The cast iron pipes have been in place anywhere from the late 1800s all the way through about the 1950s," said Eric Gibbons, a MUD senior gas design engineer.
Even with replacements underway, MUD is still making sure it doesn't corrode the neighborhood's historic charm.
"Getting rid of it before it causes a bunch of issues within the city is an important thing for us," Gibbons said.
Safe access to heat and hot water can be life-saving when Nebraskans face the coldest days of the year.
"If we didn't have the infrastructure in place, you know, to heat the home during the wintertime, that could be very dangerous. And we've seen that recently with some of the major winter weather events that hit the country," MUD worker Masa Niiya said.
That's why Lynch doesn't mind his street's short-term visitors.
"We're looking forward to getting it done, and it needs to be done," Lynch said.
MUD's trenchless technology makes it so workers only have to dig up one hole, pushing the rods seen in the video above across the whole block. This means they don't have to excavate driveways, sidewalks or even entire streets.
The new plastic pipes are built to avoid leakage — minimizing the risk of methane escaping into the atmosphere.
And the updated infrastructure is expected to eliminate nearly 340,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions over 10 years.
"Any time we get cast iron out of the ground and get it abandoned and get the new pipe in, that's a win for us," Gibbons said.
The new pipes are also smaller and higher pressure, which MUD compared to upgrading from dial-up to high-speed internet.
Top headlines: