Water Main Breaks Gusher

[Howard]

"All the land between New England and Mexico is being pulled at a diagonal, and it is not just the fault lines that are feeling stress. All will participate when the New Madrid Fault

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - "Super Sinkhole Walter" and 40 Others 

Malibu, California - Recurring Water Main Breaks

Grand Rapids, Michigan - Big Hole / Deep Water 

[Howard]

Ruptured Water Main Creates Geyser in Napa, California (Sept 21)
Water shot about 100 feet into the air at about 3 p.m. Saturday after a water main apparently broke along southbound Highway 29 and Devlin Road in south Napa County.

For about an hour, vehicles slowed as drivers snapped photos of the jet that shot water and dirt into the air as public works employees for the city of Napa tried to slowly shut down valves.

The cause of the break was not immediately known.

Source

http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/water-main-breaks-sprays-i...

[Howard]

Water Main Erupts in St. Louis, Missouri (Sept 17)
A massive geyser from a water main break shut down St. Charles street Tuesday morning.

The 16-inch water main break happened at the intersection of New Town Blvd. and Fountain Lakes Blvd. around 10:45 a.m.

Crews responded to the scene and turned the water off, though New Town Blvd. remains closed in the early parts of the afternoon.

The incident comes just days after another water main break had thousands of St. Charles and St. Peters under a boil and water conservation order.

Source

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/ain-break-shoots-in-St-Charles-22409...

[Howard]

Well Rupture Spews 30-Ft Water-Methane Geyser for Days in Los Angeles (Sept 16)

A company that worked on burning gas wells in Iraq attempted to plug an abandoned well that was shooting water and methane 30 feet into the air for 4 days, prompting the evacuation of 37 homes.

The well, near Imperial Highway and Truro Avenue, continued to spew methane even after crews were able to stop the flow of water, authorities said.

Monday morning (Sept 16), the well-capping company blasted 208 barrels of high-pressured water into the well spout to try to stop the flow of water and methane.

Imperial Highway and the 105 Freeway — one of the main routes to Los Angeles International Airport — were shut down temporarily Monday while workers performed the dangerous operation of shutting down the geyser, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Brian Jordan.

Families will be allowed to return to their nearby homes once the well is capped and readings show no methane is escaping, Jordan said.

He had no estimate on when that would be complete.

Sources

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-methane-well-leaking-20...

http://ktla.com/2013/09/16/workers-seek-to-cap-water-methane-leak-t...

[Howard]

30 Meter Geyser in Auckland NZ (Sep 5)

Residents flooded by a burst water main on Auckland's North Shore sent water so high that one witness thought it was a tornado.

One witness said: "I thought it was a tornado. It looked like a huge fountain."

"Just the power of it is pretty impressive. You can see all the bollards out just from the pressure."

He said it was "shocking", and estimated the water was spewing 30 metres into the air.

A woman at a nearby shop said she the water main was still gushing water.

An electrician had been called in to assess the damage and insurers were on the way.

"The cause is still unknown," the spokeswoman said.

"Our crews are still there assessing the situation and trying to work out what happened."

Sources

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/9129778/North-Shore-geyser-floods-f...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=1...

[Howard]

Water Main Explodes in Muncie Indiana (Aug 31)

The street in front of Cathy Carter’s house house turned into “Old Faithful’ around 8 a.m. on Saturday after a water main broke.

“Water was just shooting up like a fountain, causing sparks in the electric line,” she said. “It shot straight up into the power lines.”

“It looked like a geyser,” said Dan Beaty, who was working in a yard nearby.

Neighbors said the jet-like eruption exceeded the height of mature trees and the power lines.

“It shot 50 to 60 feet in the air until we got it shut down,” said Indiana-American Water Co. spokesman Joe Loughmiller.

While water was being turned off, there was another break in the line on Morrison about 200 feet away.

It was the second major water main break in Muncie since July 20, when all five lanes of busy McGalliard Road were shut down near Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse and Cardinal Greenway. That break in an 8-inch, cast-iron main flooded and undermined both the eastbound and westbound lanes of the road.

And there was another major water main break on Sept 2 on Riggin Road near Walnut Street in the vicinity of the Delaware County Airport. That eruption shot water horizontally into a bean field.

Indiana Michigan Power shut off electricity in the area of the Morrison Road break on Saturday.

Denise Allen, owner of Wee Wisdom Nursery and Day Care Center on Morrison, was grateful she wasn’t open on Labor Day. Because of the loss of water and electricity, she would have had to send the children home.

“It was powerful,” Allen said of the eruption.

Source

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20130903/NEWS01/309030004/-Geys...

[Howard]

Wyoming Water Main Ruptures 3 Times, Creates 70-ft Geyser (Aug 31)
A 12-inch main water line near Riverton Country Club sprung a leak Saturday, not once, not twice, but three separate times.

The pipe’s first leak around 4 p.m. Saturday sent a geyser of water 70 feet into the air and city crews initially reduced the flow of the line to prevent the golf course from flooding and planned to fix it on Sunday.

Warpness and City Administrator Steven Weaver inspected the leak that afternoon. “The amount of potable water rushing out of the break didn’t make sense to us, and a resident had complained they had no water at all, so the decision was made to fix it that evening."

The mayor said he returned to the site at 9 p.m. and said the leak had been repaired, but another one occurred in the same line just 50 feet away. City crews fixed that leak on Sunday morning, but then a third blow out occurred. “With three leaks in one section of pipe, I think it’s a time bomb waiting to happen,” Warpness said. “There must be something in the soil there that is acting on the iron pipe.”

Source

http://county10.com/2013/09/02/water-main-break-riverton/

[Howard]

Water Main Breaks Plague St. Louis Missouri (Sep 1)

Multiple streets were flooded in north St. Louis as more than a dozen water mains have ruptured in recent days.

Crews with the St. Louis Water Department continue to work through the night to fix the water mains as some residents are without water inside their homes.

Dozens of families are going on day two of no running water after a 20 inch water main broke just north of the Edward Jones Dome on August 31.  Water started bubbling up at the corner of 7th and Biddle and flowed into nearby streets. Residents are told it will be sometime September 2 before it's fixed and the water is back on.

"No water to drink, thirsty and it's very hot," says Bogard. "It's the same thing for in here, now water in there, the tub, can't brush your teeth, wash your face, toilet don't flush."

He says it's been like this since Saturday morning. That's when just down the street from his apartment the city water division says a 20 inch water main broke.

Some residents called Alisha Franklin who is with the St. Louis Housing Authority. She says she's been in contact with the Cambridge Heights property manager.

"They called the City of St. Louis and put out two Johnny on the Spots (portable toilets) for them, they are bringing in a water wagon so they can have fresh water and access to water," says Franklin.

“Crews are out 16 hours, relieving each other,” said Vincent Foggie with the St. Louis City Water Department.

Foggie said crews have been working since August 29 to fix the broken water mains.

Sources

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Rising-temperatures-causing-dozens-o...

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/395887/3/Water-main-break-causes-w...

http://www.kmov.com/news/mobile/St-Louis-City-crews-continue-work-t...

[Howard]

Water Main Break in Birmingham Alabama (Aug 31)

Crews from the Birmingham Water Works labored through the early afternoon to plug a hole in a water main that created ageyser in the Roosevelt City neighborhood for more than eight hours today.

A neighborhood resident called police, reporting the sound of an explosion, at about 6 a.m., a police officer on the scene said. Water Works personnel were on the scene in Roosevelt City Park by 9 a.m. and brought in heavy equipment at about 1:30. A police officer estimated the height of the column of water at as much as 80 feet.

The cause of the break in the water main was not clear, though a Birmingham police officer at the scene said there was no indication that anyone had been digging at the site.

The crew's first attempt to place a metal clamp over the hole in the 10-inch pipe failed when the water, under high pressure, blew out a rubber lining on the clamp. Workers said the hole in the pipe was between two and three inches in diameter.

A second attempt to put a wrap-around clamp over the hole in the pipe succeeded at about 2:40 p.m.

Water Works employees referred questions to an agency spokeswoman. Efforts to reach the spokeswoman were not immediately successful.

Source

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/08/birmingham_water_works_crew_ta....

[Howard]

Sampling of water main breaks in the U.S. over the past week.

Source

[Howard]

Water Main Erupts in Northern Virginia (Aug 18)

Chunks of asphalt, rocks, mud, and other debris were left behind after a geyser erupted on Catalpa Court in Dale City.

A water main break Sunday night on the neighborhood street in the Catbrier Heights section near Dale City Volunteer Fire Department Station 10 on Dale Boulevard left at least 50 townhomes without water.

Witnesses said the geyser shot at least 10 feet into the air. In its wake, a 10-foot wide sinkhole was created where the main ruptured.

“There was water everywhere,” said William Golden, who shot a video of the geyser. “No one has been able to drive on the street since it erupted.”

Dodging police tape set up around the sinkhole, several residents were seen walking and carrying groceries and other necessities in plastic bags to their homes.

The cause of the eruption was unknown late Sunday night.

Sources

http://potomaclocal.com/2013/08/18/geyser-leaves-sinkhole-closes-da...

http://www.wtop.com/164/3425569/Water-main-break-damages-Prince-Wil...