Two water mains flood Boston streets

Two major water main breaks shut down streets in Boston on Thursday, turning streets into creeks.

Shortly after midnight, Boston Water & Sewer Commission crews responded to 480 Dorchester Ave. in South Boston for a water main break that flooded the main street. The break shut down water to 14 buildings and Dot Ave from Alger Street to Andrew Square.

Then on Thursday afternoon, BWSC crews had to shut down a water main near Eagle Square in East Boston. The organization said this affected 10 homes and four fire hydrants. Workers began to dig up the street and repair the water lines.

The BWSC said the Southie 12-inch pipe was a cast-iron main from 1931, though it was cement lined in 2006. The 12-inch main in Eastie appears to be from the 1880s, the organization said.

Those dates aren’t out of step with the system in general. The 1,100 miles of water mains in Boston are flush with plenty of old pipes, laid from the 1840s to the present day. A report on the system from 2011 — which found the BWSC does a good job of replacing old pipes — has a chart that shows when mains were installed that includes for reference the time frames major American wars, going back to the Civil War, when some of these same pipes carried water around Boston.

That said, the city touts a lower-than-average rate of water main breaks, with 4.1 per 100 miles of pipe last year. The average for similar cities, Boston officials say, is 25 breaks per 100 miles.

The BWSC says it has replaced 363.5 miles of older water mains since 1978.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2Dl7I58