Update: (April 25, 9:21 p.m.) – @DenverWater: “UPDATE: water has been restored to residents near 45th and Perry. Road will remain closed through at least Thursday morning. #cowx Continue to avoid the area and thank you for your patience.“
DENVER (KDVR) – Denver Water crews told FOX31 that water was turned back on to residents at 8:45 p.m. Monday night.
It was a story of flood-to-mud on the second day of the water conduit repair in the Berkeley neighborhood.
“As a water utility our first priority is to get water back to our customers,” said Jose Salas with Denver Water. “While we’re working with other residents maybe on restoration and cleanup.”
Construction crews worked to fix and replace the water conduit that burst on Sunday, which resulted in nearly 50 homes losing access to water.
“The average main break we’re able to repair and restore water within 8 to 12 hours, right?” Salas explained. “[For] this main, we’re expecting longer than 24 hours so we don’t expect customers to sit there without water for that long… so we provide water for their use.”
The water conduit that broke dates back to 1927, that’s almost 100-years ago. The city couldn’t give us the exact number of other pipes that are also that old. Some were installed in the 1800s, but that doesn’t mean they are liable to burst like the Berkeley example.
“It could be temperature changes, corrosion control, it could be the material. There are a lot of different factors that go into the main break. So it’s not necessarily just the age,” Salas said.
The water distribution system contains more than 3,000 miles of water mains, and Denver Water crews install or replace an average of 106,000 feet of pipe every year to prevent breaks like this.
Meanwhile, when the water is turned back on, it might still be a while before the water is back to normal. Denver Water said that flushing the system might help.
“We don’t just flip a switch and it’s like okay,” Salas said. “We do ensure that the water quality is safe for our customers to receive that water before we turn [it] on again.”
Work continues, however, with the next major hurdle being the re-paving of roads.
Source : https://kdvr.com/news/local/berkeleys-water-turned-back-on-denver-water/
