Water main bursts on Hillsdale Street

Home News Water main bursts on Hillsdale Street

A ten inch water main broke on Hillsdale Street late Tuesday morning, flooding the road and leaving buildings in the area without water.

The pipe burst around 11:30 p.m. in front of Broadlawn, leaving an 8 by 4 foot hole in College President Larry Arnn’s front yard. He, along with the Ambler Health Center, Whitley Residence, the Paul House, the Mu Alpha House, Koon Residence, Delp Hall, and Lane Hall had either low water pressure or no water all.

Mike Simons, a Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant officer, said these pipe bursts are not atypical.

“It is like when your bicycle chain breaks on your bike – it is only as strong as the weakest link,” Simons said.

He said breaks happen more often in the winter, occasionally two at a time. As of Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., he was unsure of how long it would take to fix the break.

“We always fix it as soon as possible,” Simons said.

Brown water swept down both sides of Hillsdale Street and water pooled several inches deep at the corner of Hillsdale and College Streets. Students had trouble crossing the road with dry feet.

Board of Public Utilities Water Superintendent Kevin Lawrence said city workers shut down six water valves around the break to stop the flooding. The shutdown stopped water flow to buildings on either side of Hillsdale Street. By 12:30 p.m., the flow had slowed to a lazy stream.

Three pumps were removing water from the gaping hole. Fellow workers left to retrieve a vactor truck. The hose on the truck works similar to a ShopVac, Simons said. It sucked the remainder of the water out of the hole so workers could dig up the pipe to make necessary repairs.

Simons explained there are only three workers in the main water line department of the Water and Waste Water Treatment, so workers from other deparments came to give assistance.

“That’s what happens in a small town, we try to help each other out,” Simons said.

Pat Loper, the main secretary in Lane, said she first received reports that the restrooms were not working around 11:30. Soon after, an email from Jill Draper went out explaining a massive water line break had caused the situation.

Senior Whittaker Dunn, a Jitters employee, said Jitters Cofee Cart was never affected by the line break.

“But some girl walked in and asked if I heard about the water line break – her leg was completely soaked,” Dunn said. “Ironically, we are out of bottled water.”

The break inconvenienced students who had classes at the time.

“I had to walk all the way to Strosacker. The bubbler works but the bathroom doesn’t – garbage!” sophomore Albert Nakayama said.

Some students made the best of the situation.

“I appreciate the water main breaking because now Koon has waterfront property,” freshman Frank Cusumano said. “We might get a dock and a boat.”