Contractors will soon drill a hole across and more than 20 feet under the Kickemuit River to provide a more reliable source of water for more than 550 Bristol County Water Authority customers in East Warren.

The project, which is expected to cost $650,000 and will start in a week or two, involves reaming a tunnel deep below the riverbed, just south of Child Street, and snaking a 12" polyethylene pipe through the channel. The old pipe currently in place is made of cast iron and was installed about 80 years ago. At eight inches in diameter, it is 33 percent smaller than its replacement.

"It's going to go pretty deep," said Susan Rabideau, BCWA's engineering project manager.

Ms. Rabideau said the hydraulic directional drilling process to be used is similar to that used by the authority when the cross-bay pipeline was drilled through riverbed about 20 years ago. That pipe, which connects Bristol County to the Providence water supply, runs from the Silver Spring golf course in East Providence, all the way across upper Narragansett Bay to Fields Point in Providence.

Ms. Rabideau said that work on Child Street will be limited to access pits dug off the southern shoulder of the road, on either side of the bridge. If a temporary water service shut-off is necessary, affected residents will be notified in advance.