Less than a day after they broke ground, workers with a Fall River contracting firm have been ordered to stop work on the $3.4 million East Bay Pipeline repair project, after an engineer working with the Bristol County Water Authority found irregularities in paperwork filed with the authority by the contractor, Biszko Contracting.

On Monday afternoon, BCWA Executive Director Pam Marchand ordered Biszko to cease work on the site immediately, and an emergency meeting of the BCWA’s board of directors was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. On the agenda are the discrepancies and a possible termination of Biszko’s contract. She had no further comment on the nature of the inconsistencies and irregularities uncovered by the BCWA’s engineering firm, Beta.

The order is the latest delay for the $3.4 million project to repair a 400,000-plus gallon-per-day leak first discovered in the Spring in Bristol County’s main water supply source.

The current plan to “slip-line” the pipeline with PVC tubing, and was not the BCWA’s first choice. More than a month ago, a supplier of a flexible liner BCWA officials had hoped to snake through the leaky pipeline backed out after officials there worried that interior conditions of the pipeline could threaten the liner’s integrity.

Work had just begun

On Monday, two separate crews from Biszko started mobilizing heavy equipment at the Port of Providence and East Providence shorelines, the western and eastern ends of the 4,500 pipeline that runs more than 150 feet under the Providence River.

On the East Providence side, workers fenced off the fourth green at the Silver Spring Golf Course on Monday and are closing off two additional holes, leaving the six-hole course with three playable holes.

On the Providence side, workers mobilized next to a large parking area, where the BCWA dug earlier this year in hopes of first locating the leak.

Even without the Biszko irregularities, the $3.4 million project is complicated, BCWA Executive Director Pamela Marchand said. The plan is to pull a PVC liner through the 21-year-old pipeline from Providence to East Providence, effectively creating a pipeline within a pipeline.

But since the new PVC material — which will eventually be inserted in short lengths and electronically welded as it goes — is rigid, and the original pipeline has two 45-degree bends at either end that the PVC cannot traverse, crews — either from Biszko or elsewhere — will dig access holes into the pipeline past those bends.

Once the irregularities are sorted out, the plan is to re-mobilize at the site, at which point a remote video camera will be inserted to inspect the pipe’s interior . Following that, a 20-foot PVC “prover pipe” will b pulled through from Providence to East Providence, to make sure the actual liner will make it all the way through.

Once the prover makes it through, workers will start on the installation of the main liner and after complete insertion will use angled couplers to attach either end of the line to the rest of the transmission line, and attempt to put the pipeline back into service.

Odd/even watering ban in place

The Bristol County Water Authority has instituted an odd/even watering ban for the foreseeable future, after banning all outdoor water usage this past weekend.

BCWA executive director Pam Marchand said Friday afternoon that higher than expected water demand in Barrington, Bristol and Warren led to the weekend's ban. The measure "is needed to protect the water system’s fire supply and prevent loss of pressure," she said.

Currently, outdoor water use will be allowed on odd/even days based on street address. House addresses ending in an odd number can water on odd calendar days; addresses ending in an even number on even days).

For more information, see bcwari.com or call the BCWA emergency hotline at 245-5071 (after 4 p.m.) or the customer service line 245-2022.