Community Corner

Water Department: Service Should Be Fully Restored by 5 p.m.

City workers have patched a 12-inch cast iron water pipe that burst Wednesday morning.

The City Water Department expects service to be fully restored by 5 p.m. to the nearly 300 homes and businesses affected by a water main break on Murdock Avenue near Research Parkway Wednesday morning.

Workers estimate that only about 30 to 40 area households have been without water since noon. After the main burst at about 9:45 a.m., the department was able to reroute water from other locations to feed more than 250-plus homes and businesses in the area, including the Rushford Center and Meriden Center convalescent home, said Public Works Distribution Supervisor Doug Dexter.

The households still without water are in the neighborhood of Cardinal Drive and Elmwood Drive. The homes are on a hill, and too high for the rerouted water to build enough pressure to reach them, Dexter said.

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At about 3 p.m. city workers were putting the finishing touches on repairs to the water main – a 12-inch cast iron pipe that was laid in 1962. They replaced the section of pipe that broke with a nearly 6-foot stretch of pipe composed of ductile iron.

Murdock Ave. has been closed between Research Parkway and Fairway Drive while repairs are made.

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Officials aren't certain as to what caused the pipe to burst.

"Water mains just give. It could be age, anything," said Anthony West of the Water Department.

Fire Marshal Steve Trella said that the fire department put a third fire engine into service in the area while the water was off. The engine holds an extra 750 gallons of water in case of fire.


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