A burst water main caused about $100,000 in damage and closed a major traffic thoroughfare in New Westminster last Saturday.
Crews from Metro Vancouver and the City of New Westminster were at Braid Street and Brunette Avenue when the water main burst on Saturday afternoon.
“What it looks like is a small section of pipe in between the two valves let go,” said Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering. “We had just replaced the city’s valve. There are two valves – one owned by the city and one owned by Metro Vancouver. It’s the interface between the regional transmission pipeline and the city’s distribution pipes.”
Crews had been working on a short section of pipe between the two valves, as there had been a leak in the municipal valve.
“Shortly after that, it appears as if the short pipe section between the two valves failed,” Lowrie said. “Crews from both Metro and the city were still close by.”
The burst water main sent a geyser-like flow of water high into the sky, closing the intersection to traffic and stopping SkyTrain service in the area around the incident.
“There were no injuries,” Lowrie said. “There was road damage, which we expect to be about $100,000.”
The work had been completed and the road had been returned to normal when the water main burst, sending water blasting out of the ground, tearing up the road and soaring into the air. A car sustained some damage after being hit by a flying rock.
“It is a high-pressure main. It is about one-and-a-half times higher in pressure than our normal distribution mains,” Lowrie said. “I haven’t seen anything of that magnitude in my career.”
The intersection was closed until about 1 a.m. while crews cleaned up the mess and repaired the damaged water main.
