Water Main Break Causes Flooding

A water main broke at 11:34 p.m. Wednesday, the 17th, in Grand Terrace and was contained sometime between 12:30 and 1 a.m. The water main break originated at Barton Road and Michigan Avenue. Water service was completely restored and roads were reopened by 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 18, said officials at Riverside Highland Water Company, the city's public water provider. Riverside Highland Water Company's General Manager Don Hough shared the leak first began at 11:34 p.m. Wednesday night, June 17. “A Riverside Highland Water Company employee responded to the call immediately and contacted Craig Gudgeon, the company's distribution superintendent. While the rest of the water company's crew was called in for the emergency, all of the water valves were completely shut off sometime between 12:30 and 1 a.m. Thursday morning.” The scope of needed repairs necessitated the additional help and equipment of an outside contractor, Merlin Johnson Construction, which Hough said was experienced in water main breaks. Crews began repair work around 2 a.m. Thursday morning, June 18. "The water ran for about an hour to an hour and a half. We don't know how much water was lost at this time. Officials from the fire department had estimated a loss of approximately 1 million gallons. I don’t want to speculate what the cause might have been," said Hough. “At this time the water company is still investigating what caused the pipe to burst. “Unfortunately, this incident occurred during the fourth year of below-normal rainfall,” said Hough, who would like to remind everyone to continue to make efforts to conserve water, especially now. “It was determined that an approximate 20-foot section of PVC C-905 pipe blew out, causing the leak,” said Hough. “The leak caused one of the reservoirs - which hold water to prevent water pumps from running all hours - to nearly run dry, which left some residents without water service. Air was drawn into the lines and some residents experienced air in their own water lines as a result,” said Hough. "We had to shut a small section of the city down to actually do the repair, but...fortunately we have a lot of wells and we were able to fill the reservoir up. Within a few hours that reservoir was full and the others never did go dry,” Hough said. Receiving 93 phone calls the night the incident began, all of which were returned, Hough thanked the citizens of Grand Terrace for exercising graciousness and understanding during this critical time. He also explained it's unusual for plastic pipe to burst in this way, and that the Riverside Highland Water company makes repairs and upgrades to the City's water infrastructure every year. "This particular pipe was installed in 1999 and was warrantied for 50 years," he said. "It wasn’t 100-year-old pipe like you hear about in a lot of other places. It was a fairly new pipe, and for whatever reason, this one failed." Since 1987, Riverside Highland Water Company has replaced approximately 70 percent of the city's old pipes, including the pipe that burst, through its capital improvement program. The company spends an estimated $500,000 to $1 million yearly to upgrade the system and replace infrastructure. Hough reiterated the situation was made much easier through the understanding and cooperation shown by residents and wants to express his appreciation.