By John Burton
LITTLE SILVER – It was a surprising sort of waterless start to the long July 4 weekend for some borough residents with the rupture of a water main affecting four area towns.
A major water main measuring 36 inches in diameter broke under the asphalt-covered roadway in the vicinity of Rumson Place and Grant Place at approximately midnight on Saturday, July 2, according to Peter Eschbach, director of communications and external affairs for New Jersey American Water. The damage to
the water main resulted in loss of water service to approximately 150 customers in the immediate area and very little water pressure to a total of roughly 5,000 customers in Little Silver, Rumson, Fair Haven and Red Bank.
LITTLE SILVER – It was a surprising sort of waterless start to the long July 4 weekend for some borough residents with the rupture of a water main affecting four area towns.
A major water main measuring 36 inches in diameter broke under the asphalt-covered roadway in the vicinity of Rumson Place and Grant Place at approximately midnight on Saturday, July 2, according to Peter Eschbach, director of communications and external affairs for New Jersey American Water. The damage to
the water main resulted in loss of water service to approximately 150 customers in the immediate area and very little water pressure to a total of roughly 5,000 customers in Little Silver, Rumson, Fair Haven and Red Bank.
The damage to the main and decreased water pressure resulted in New Jersey American Water to issue a precautionary boil water alert before customers used water.
“We acknowledge it’s an inconvenience to have to boil your water,” Eschbach said, “but we’d rather that than the possibility of people becoming ill.”
With the opening and so little pressure through the pipe there is always the potential for bacteria to infiltrate the system, posing a potential health risk. There was no evidence that that was the case here, Eschbach explained, “But it’s much, much better to be safe than sorry.”
“We acknowledge it’s an inconvenience to have to boil your water,” Eschbach said, “but we’d rather that than the possibility of people becoming ill.”
With the opening and so little pressure through the pipe there is always the potential for bacteria to infiltrate the system, posing a potential health risk. There was no evidence that that was the case here, Eschbach explained, “But it’s much, much better to be safe than sorry.”
Crews were dispatched to the area, where they had to remove about 12 feet of the cast iron pipe – which took the better part of four hours for workers to just cut through the section and disengage it from the rest of the pipe – and then use heavy duty pumps and hoses to get the water out of the pipe section and excavated area. After that, additional digging was needed to allow the new length of pipe to be connected and then workers had to get the system operating again, Eschbach said.
During this period the water company distributed gallon bottles of water to affected homes and had additional water available for customers. According to Kimberly Jungfer, borough administrator/clerk, the company provided a water tanker truck for the volunteer fire company to use if needed.
New Jersey American Water lifted the boil water advisory late Saturday night for most of the affected customers, and the remainder of customers were told they didn’t need to continue boiling water early Sunday, according to Eschbach.
Full service was returned to customers later on Sunday.
“We don’t know what caused the break,” he acknowledged. While there hasn’t been an issue with this section previously, Eschbach noted the water main is more than a century old and the water company plans on studying the damaged section to determine what caused it.
Rumson Place is a small residential street and its closure didn’t have much of an impact on area traffic, Jungfer said.
But, “It was in fact pretty awful for some of our residents,” in the immediate area of the break, Mayor Robert Neff Jr. pointed out. “They had this geyser going off in the middle of the street. They had water in their homes, water in their basements, mud all over the street.”
During this period the water company distributed gallon bottles of water to affected homes and had additional water available for customers. According to Kimberly Jungfer, borough administrator/clerk, the company provided a water tanker truck for the volunteer fire company to use if needed.
New Jersey American Water lifted the boil water advisory late Saturday night for most of the affected customers, and the remainder of customers were told they didn’t need to continue boiling water early Sunday, according to Eschbach.
Full service was returned to customers later on Sunday.
“We don’t know what caused the break,” he acknowledged. While there hasn’t been an issue with this section previously, Eschbach noted the water main is more than a century old and the water company plans on studying the damaged section to determine what caused it.
Rumson Place is a small residential street and its closure didn’t have much of an impact on area traffic, Jungfer said.
But, “It was in fact pretty awful for some of our residents,” in the immediate area of the break, Mayor Robert Neff Jr. pointed out. “They had this geyser going off in the middle of the street. They had water in their homes, water in their basements, mud all over the street.”
But the company and municipality were quick on getting the message out to residents, the mayor added.
“It was a mess,” on the street, Eschbach said, with workers continuing road repairs on Tuesday.
“It was a mess,” on the street, Eschbach said, with workers continuing road repairs on Tuesday.
Neff said water company representatives assured him they would repair the roadway and provided information contact information for homeowners with damage claims.
The mayor asked representatives from the water company to attend the August Borough Council public workshop meeting to discuss the situation and determine if there were other things local of ficials could have done to of fer additional assistance.
The mayor asked representatives from the water company to attend the August Borough Council public workshop meeting to discuss the situation and determine if there were other things local of ficials could have done to of fer additional assistance.
