Water Main Break Floods Pittsburgh

[sintax]

Water Main Break Floods Pittsburgh


Thursday August 18, 2005 3:01 AM

By RAMESH SANTANAM

Associated Press Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A downtown water main ruptured Wednesday, flooding streets and businesses, knocking out electrical power and floating cars in underground parking garages.

City officials said they did not know what caused the 80-year-old, 36-inch main to break at about 10:35 a.m. beneath Fort Duquesne Boulevard, a major thoroughfare along the Allegheny River.

``Age could be a factor. Pressure could be another factor,'' said Mike Lichte, the city's director of engineering and construction.

Officials estimated that 20 million to 30 million gallons of water gushed out over several hours before city workers shut valves leading to the broken line.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5217476,00.html

[Massacure]

1. All the infrastructure in this damn country is going to hell.

I'm so glad politicians have their priorities strait. :eyes:

[merwin]

2. That's more water than all of Iraq has seen in several years.

Thanks to us.

[qanda]

3. My sister called me yesterday

And said their building had lost water pressure from the city and that they couldn't use the bathrooms. I guess that's what happened.

[osaMABUSh]

4. I work in Pgh and it was like a mini 9/11 scene in the response

There were response units and mobile command vehicles all over the place. I guess that is good that we are prepared for a real disaster but, on the other hand, it seems that since 9/11 there is always an overkill in response to any event.

The actual scene from the street wasn't that bad - some flooded streets but thousands of office workers going home at 12:30 PM was a bit eerie.

[bleedingheart]

5. Sadly this pipeline should have been replaced.....or inspected

Construction of roads and repair of roads is always going on in Pittsburgh to some degree or another. There were ample opportunities to inspect this pipe when many of the roads above it were being repaired. Doesn't take much to dig a bit deeper to make sure that an 80 year old cast iron pipe is okay......but nope...they don't and look at what happens....

While I understand the "if it isn't broke...don't fix it"...I also believe that preventative maintenance also saves money too...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05230/555801.stm