Water Main Break

A water main break occurred on Gloucester early Sunday morning, October 10. One of our professional managers was on site at 4:00am Sunday morning to determine the extent of the problem and coordinate with the city water department and our crew's emergency response.

This post was expanded the morning of October 11 and additional comments added.

According to the Water Management Contractors who responded, this would be the procedure:

1. Facilitate Emergency Repairs as soon as possible and restore water.
2. Return the next day and complete normal repairs. This will include possible further inspection of the water line to determine its condition and how much pipe to be replaced. Then make a determination of the extent of repair and with approval of management, do that. 

After the repairs are complete, the association will have other tasks to complete:

1. Clean up.
2. Repave the driveway at 1782.
3. Repair damaged landscaping.

It's unfortunate, but the new asphalt driveway was lifted by the surging water and another large area was, of course, dug up. A neighbor, when informed of this problem, stated to my spouse "no problem, the city will take care of it."

This person has been on the property for at least 15 years. She is very uninformed in this case. Our association owns the street and the water pipe below it. We'll be responsible for any and all costs.

Another neighbor suggested that we should "sue sombody" (I think the term that was used was to "legally subjugate").  That would be ourselves, I guess, since we, which includes you and I, are the owners of the property and the water lines below, etc. I guess she is suggesting we sue each other and then the board could vote a special assessment to pay for any legal fees and judgements. Sorry, I can't support such ideas. As owners, our money needs to be spent on roofs, driveways, various concrete projects and daily operations and landscaping.   

It will be interesting to see the entire bill, which will include:

• Sunday emergency work for most of the day (last photo I took was at about 4:30PM and they were still digging! I assume that this is overtime rate, possibly double and triple time?
• Permanent repair.
• Clean-up.
• Grading and new asphalt drive and entry.
• Landscaping repair.

In the following photo, you can see the lifting of large sections of the driveway by the pressure of the water exerted below it. If you click on this picture and any of the others, it will open and you will have a greatly enlarged image. 

Here's an enlarged section with the worker stepping gingerly on the raised section.

There was so much water, under such pressure, that it was being ejected and literally shooting out along the edge of the driveway along its length. With it were large quantities of muck (that's slang for very wet soil and clay). Here is one such spot, after the water was turned off. This driveway was severely damaged. The good news, is from outward appearances, all water moved away from the nearby buildings.

This photo was taken after the flow had been greatly diminished, immediately after the main valve to this section of pipe had been completely closed. The residual water is flowing into the sewer

With the water off, and the immediate emergency averted, the crew dug while various neighbors looked on.

The resulting hole was immense!

Six hours later, they were still digging! This is, of course a slow and laborious process. Digging commences in the possible area of the break. It continues until the water main is uncovered, and then digging progresses horizontally until the source of the break is revealed. This requires periodically "cracking" the water valve so that the source of the leak can be seen. Of course, all that is revealed is some spinning or shooting water which points in the direction of the damaged section. Not a fast or easy job.

The morning of October 11, work resumed to make a permanent repair. Additional equipment was brought in and soil was moved out of the way. Management informed me that they were getting repair costs estimates and would proceed with soliciting a bid for repaving of the ruined driveway. Management informed me that the hole will be expanded to beyond the driveway and pipe replaced, to assure that a future break in this area, should it occur, will not damage the driveway. That's the plan, of course, but in the real world, things do sometimes go wrong. All that we can do is attempt to anticipate these problems, plan accordingly and of course, accrue funds so we can financially handle these when they occur. Or, the board can simply levy "special assessments" each and every time these events occur. That's not a option in my book. I prefer "prix fixe" menus at restaurants, where I pay one price for a complete meal of several courses, at a fixed price for the meal.

Comments, Corrections, Omissions, References, Miscellaneous News
Note 1.  This will be an expensive repair. Extensive hours and equipment on a Sunday, which is most likely at overtime rates, permanent piping repairs on a Monday,  a new driveway and landscaping. I suppose the only saving grace is it happened before the annual board budget meeting and no buildings appear to have been harmed.

Note 2. Comment added October 11: The city was not directly involved, but has access to shutoff valves outside the property and also maps detailing the location of the various major shutoff valves on the property.

Note 3. In response to a reader's question "Any chance this could have been exacerbated by the previous driveway repair?" I would say this. I would guess, from visual observation that the water line is 8 to 10 feet below the surface. I never saw the pipe line! They were 8 feet down and still digging when I snapped the last of those photos on Sunday. Even with the removal of several feet of old asphalt and crushed stone, at such a depth, the 8 feet or so of soil remaining above the pipeline would provide substantial distribution of any forces exerted by the paving equipment. Our management is looking into some of the possible causes. However, this was a major break. Not a "pinhole." I think we just experienced our own version of a Deepwater Horizon blowout. Fortunately, this was fresh water.