Two water lines break

A major water main break sent asphalt floating on South Bent and North streets Monday afternoon.

“It’s a bad one. It’s going to have to be rebuilt,” said City Administrator Zane Logan on Monday. With cold winter months approaching, “It is better now than three months from now, I guess.”

Several blocks away, a second water line broke Wednesday morning. That break occurred on the 400 block of South Clark Street and was not as significant as Monday’s incident.

“Both water line breaks have been repaired, and the water is on at all locations,” said Gary Butts, city public services manager.

It was unclear Wednesday afternoon whether the two breaks were related or what had caused them.

“Basically, it’s just old piping that’s giving us some issues,” said Bill Winters, city water superintendent.

Winters said Wednesday morning he wasn’t sure whether the water line breaks were related to recent work on the eastern water tower. On Friday, the tower was drained for maintenance work, then refilled later that day.

Winters said it doesn’t take much fluctuation in volume or pressure to cause problems in the city’s aging piping system.

City leaders agreed that Monday’s water break was one of the worst in memory.

“I’ve never seen an intersection of asphalt floating like a raft,” Butts said.

Butts said the city plans to begin repairing the pavement at the intersection of Bent and North streets on Monday, Oct. 8, after the flow fill material has cured. Work is estimated to take about two weeks, tentatively finishing by Oct. 19.

“We’ll take the least amount of pavement off that we have to, and as much as we need to,” Butts said.

The intersection remains closed to traffic. The surrounding area still can be accessed by side streets.