Infrastructure Crisis Evident In Mega Main Breaks

A water main break in a Texas city recently flooded an entire neighborhood, displacing families and sending a stream through homes and lawns.

“A mini waterfall flowed through backyards in Boerne leaving neighbors with nothing to do but roll video and watch the damage,” KENS reported.

The damage began when a 24-inch water main burst, according to the report. Homeowners reported upwards of 8 inches of water flooding through their homes.

That was hardly the only major water main rupture this month.

A broken water main caused a street to collapse in Philadelphia this month, according to Fox 29. The wreckage swallowed a car and an SUV and left 20 homes without power and heat. Philadelphia Water Department officials said a sewer line eroded and sprung a leak, causing the ground to shift, which broke the water main, the report said. The hole was “30 foot-by-10-foot,” the Associated Press reported.

And in a Detroit suburb, a massive sinkhole opened up last month when a massive concrete sewer pipe busted, according to The Wall Street Journal. The sinkhole is “60 feet deep and has since spread to nearly the length of a football field prompting the evacuation of residents from 22 homes,” the report said.

In some areas, the challenge is not the size of the ruptures, but the number that are occurring this year. In Portland, OR, sub-freezing temperatures “have led to 10 water main breaks within three days, and nearly 50 in a week,” KGW reported.

Crumbling infrastructure is a top concern for water utilities and water regulators. According to a report by the American Water Work Association, “restoring existing water systems as they reach the end of their useful lives and expanding them to serve a growing population will cost at least $1 trillion over the next 25 years, if we are to maintain current levels of water service.”

To read more about water main breaks visit Water Online’s Solutions And Insight For Water Loss Prevention.