Water Main Break Floods City Streets

The City of San Angelo Water Department is busy this morning, working on a water main break affecting a two-block area between W Ave. K and W Ave. J on the 1400 block of Austin St.

The exact time the break occurred is not known, however drivers have been advised to circumnavigate the area since 10:12 a.m. Wednesday. The size and scope of the break has yet to be determined, however it is known that a 6-inch main is the source of the flooding.

As of 10:30 a.m., the Water Utilities Department was waiting for other utilities to locate their lines so that digging may begin.

“There’s the gas companies and the phone companies, I think most of them actually use contractors to come out and locate the lines prior to us digging…it’s our crews that go out and dig up and make prepares on the lines,” Krueger said.

Estimates of how long it will take to make the repair are difficult to obtain, as beginning is dependent upon the locators finding their lines. Krueger says that the information changes rapidly and that within two hours things could look completely different.

“The information changes very rapidly…it could be a couple of hours…they may already be to the point of making a repair on the pipe in two more hours, or it could be that locators have to drive in from Brownwood, so time is hard to say,” Krueger said.

When LIVE! arrived on the scene at 10:40 a.m., the ground was being broken to access the line. The repairs made will depend upon the size of the leak, Krueger says, ranging from a simple sleeve-like clamp being installed to replacing a piece of piping.

Cost of the repair is difficult to gage, however Krueger estimates that on average, the cost of digging the whole and repairing the asphalt afterward is between $1,000 and $1,500. Labor and equipment costs come on top of that price.

Such a break is not uncommon, says Krueger, adding, “Most of our breaks are caused by either the ground shifting, or due to the age of the pipes, basically deteriorated to where they lose their strength and the water pressure gets to them and finally blows out a hole.”

So far, the cause of the break is undetermined, however a report is expected to be given this afternoon on the situation.

Check back for updates.