Massive Water Main Break Causes Drop In Pressure In Arlington Heights
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FORT WORTH(CBSDFW.COM) - Crews in Trinity Park have a long night ahead of them as they work to repair a massive water main break. The rupture happened early Saturday morning, but replacing the section of the 48-inch pipe is no small task.
Most of the day was spent creating space to do the repair work. Workers have had to dig a huge hole around the broken pipe and fill gravel around the sides to prevent the hole from collapsing. It's a problem that goes far beyond this park.
It isn't what people taking their normal jog or bike ride through the park expect to see. The mess began Saturday morning when a major transmission line ruptured sending millions of gallons of water throughout Trinity Park and into University Drive.
"A lot of the roads were shut down. There was tons of traffic and kind of a disturbance to everyone trying to get around especially right before school starts," said Courtney Johnson after riding her bike by the repair site.
Hours later it still wasn't clear what caused the break.
"Could be the age of the line, could be the dry conditions in the soil and it shifted, could be a pressure issue that caused it to rupture," Fort Worth Water Department spokesperson Mary Gugliuzza said.
The 48-inch line sends water directly from the nearby treatment plant to smaller lines that carry water throughout the city. That's why more than two miles away customers in Arlington Heights felt a significant drop in pressure.
"We were able to finish our breakfast just fine. Then mid-lunch we discovered that we had no water, and we can't operate a restaurant with no water," Shane Dahlstrom said.
Dahlstrom had to temporarily shut down the Swiss Pastry Shop telling customers on the restaurant's Facebook page that the water main break was to blame. Water customers saw service restored by mid-afternoon, allowing the restaurant to open for dinner, just as they were beginning to consider contingency plans.
"Are we going to have to call Noah's Ark, bring in canoes, open up a little marina and a dock for all our customers?" Dahlstrom said.
Gugliuzza tells us crews will continue to work throughout the night for as long as it takes to make the repairs.
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