Though pretty much back to normal in this photo, this area of Washington Street looked more like a river on Thursday as two fire hydrants were opened to allow for repairs to a broken water main on West Main Street. Photo by Sara Swanson.

submitted by Michael Sessions, City Manager

A water main broke around 6:30am Thursday morning on W. Main Street between Washington Street and Clinton Street. Despite the break, we were able to complete the repair while the system remained under constant pressure. To relieve excess water from the system, two fire hydrants were opened, which resulted in a significant amount of water accumulating in the downtown area. About 15,000 gallons was flooding streets in the area near downtowm

Only one home, located at 110 N. Clinton Street, was placed under a boil water notice. This was due to a valve that was operated during the repair, which unexpectedly shut off water to that residence. While it was not initially known that this valve would impact the home, it did. The residents were notified, and water samples have already been collected from the location. The boil water notice was expected to remain in effect until Saturday afternoon, when it was likely be lifted.

Kudos to Brent Jones and his DPW team, as well as our entire City staff, for an excellent job — from answering phone calls to keep residents informed during the incident, to manually operating the Water Treatment Plant to ensure uninterrupted water service. Residents experienced minimal to no impact — water service was never lost, except for the one affected home — and the repair was completed by 10:30am.

Mayor Pat Vailliencourt said, “I went to the site and watched as Brent and Brian got drenched, covered in mud, and worked to get the main repaired. Other DPW, wastewater and office staff were ensuring they were available for whatever was needed and kept everything else running smoothly. Awesome job!”

We would also like to thank the City of Saline for providing the use of their Vactor Truck. It played a key role in hydro-excavating the site and preventing water from refilling the hole, allowing for a safe and efficient repair process.

The clay still covering this sidewalk on the corner of Wurster Park is a result of last week’s water main break as the large amount of water in the street flowed onto the sidewalks, depositing sediment. Photo by Sara Swanson.