Water main crack results in brown water
Published on April 29th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - "Well I love that dirty water... Stoneham you're my home."
Residents may be humming this tune or mumbling phrases which are less pleasant to the ears, in recent days, due to the appearance, smell and taste of the liquid which is emanating from their faucets, showerheads and sprinklers.
According to Department of Public Works Director Robert Grover, a section of the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority's 48-inch water main next to the Spot Pond Pump Station, which connects Stoneham, Woburn and Wakefield to the MWRA water supply, cracked and was forced to be taken off line. The crack and leak that ensued was detected late last week and consultants advised the MWRA to take the pipe off line and transfer the water supply to a line which has served a smaller purpose in the past.
Grover explained that the discoloration of the water which is being fed to Stoneham residents is due, in large part, to the use of the smaller line.
"They're going to have to push more water through that line than they ever did before," he said. "In the time that it sat unused, it built up sediment and may have rusted."
MWRA spokesperson Thomas Lee said, "We don't exactly know what caused the crack. Right now we believe that it was just a stress fracture which was caused by age.
"All we really know for sure is that there is a leak and it has to be fixed."
Although the water may appear less than healthy, Lee stressed, in terms of contamination, it is safe.
"The water is not unhealthy," he said. "It's definitely drinkable. But Stoneham, especially on Wednesday, is going to get hit with some pretty dirty water."
Grover agreed with Lee, saying, "It will be monitored continuously from a health standpoint, You probably won't want to drink it because of the rusty taste and you might not want to shower in it for a couple of days and you definitely don't want to do laundry in it."
Grover said that Shaw's and Super Stop & Shop have been notified of the problem and have stocked their shelves in preparation for a large influx of thirsty customers.
Stoneham appears to have been hit the worst by the leak.
According to Grover, Wakefield and Woburn also received water through the same water main.
In Wakefield, residents will likely be supplied with water from their local source, Crystal Lake.
Woburn will get a hand from its neighbor, Winchester. Winches-ter recently constructed a filtration plant which will transfer water from the pond to consumers in those towns after the cleaning process has been completed.
Unfortunately, the plant can only supply a certain amount of users with water which keeps Stoneham out of the loop.
"(The MWRA's) going to try to really decrease demand going through that line," Grover said.
Lee said repairs on the line should take three to four days and added that clean water is expected to make a return appearance to the town sometime over the weekend.
He said that the discoloration of the water is due to the large increase in service which is expected of the MWRA's Section 29 water main.
Previously, Lee explained, 1.5 million gallons ran through the line on a daily basis. Due to the recent occurrence, however, the capacity of the line will have to be increased to approximately 7.5 million gallons.
This amount of water is dislodging rust and sediments which had formed on the line and is sending the substances into the Stoneham water supply, Lee said.
Section 89, which runs underneath Spot Pond and feeds into the Bear Hill Tank, will undergo repairs in next few days.
Grover said that the town is putting together an emergency water supply plan which could be used if Section 29 fails.
"It's an older feed," he said of the line. "If this backup were to break, the town has to be prepared to look somewhere else for the water.
"We don't expect that to happen, however."
The Bear Hill Tank has a capacity to feed the rate payers with water for approximately two days.
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