Company offering water line insurance

Talk about it

Jamestown residents will soon be receiving mailings from American Water Resources offering insurance covering the cost of repairs for service lines between water mains and their homes. The company offering the insurance is not affiliated with the city of Jamestown, according to Reed Schwartzkopf, city engineer.

The cost of any repair to the line between the city water or sewer mains and the homes is the homeowner’s responsibility, Schwartzkopf said. Because it is not a city responsibility, no statistics on the number of breaks of service lines in Jamestown exist.

“There are probably a couple of dozen or more per year,” he said. “A break or failure in a sewer line can reach $4,000 to $5,000 in cost.”

Schwartzkopf said the city is not suggesting people buy or not buy the insurance.

“The city is not affiliated and I can’t tell people what to do,” he said. “With a lot of older homes there are older service lines in town. People need to look at this like an extended warranty for a car or appliance. You have to evaluate if the cost of the insurance is worth it compared to the risk.”

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

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