(May 12, 2016) A broken valve caused a townwide water outage for about 20 minutes on Friday, while some commercial customers in Berlin went without water for several hours.
For the most part, the issues were minor and quickly resolved, and town employees seemed to tackle the problem with little difficulty.
Water Resources and Public Works Director Jane Kreiter said most customers were back online quickly after the issue arose at about 9 a.m. Friday morning, although some businesses on Franklin Avenue between Pines Street and Route 113 experienced outages related to the repairs from around 1-6 p.m.
Crews were quickly on the scene that morning, at the corner of Franklin Avenue and Williams Street, where police directed traffic for most of the day.
“For the first 20 minutes, everybody had really low water pressure, but then we were able to isolate that area,” Kreiter said. “We just replaced some valves in the Grice, Graham, Franklin area, so we were able [address the problem quickly]. It was probably just a handful of people that were affected.”
Kreiter said workers from Goodie Hill Groundwork assisted Berlin workers in the maintenances.
“The repair was probably completed at 3:30 or 4 p.m., but then we still had road repair and compaction. [Workers] probably didn’t leave until about 6,” she said.
By around 4 p.m., what started as a gurgling hole in the road just a few feet across had grown into a trench large enough to fit a public works worker. Despite rainy and cold conditions and a full day of labor, town employees could still be seen smiling and working as cars drove slowly past the repair site, one lane at a time.
“I’ve always said this, but for some reason when the crap hits the fan, they all just fall in line and it’s real teamwork. Its incredible to see,” Kreiter said.
For the most part, the issues were minor and quickly resolved, and town employees seemed to tackle the problem with little difficulty.
Water Resources and Public Works Director Jane Kreiter said most customers were back online quickly after the issue arose at about 9 a.m. Friday morning, although some businesses on Franklin Avenue between Pines Street and Route 113 experienced outages related to the repairs from around 1-6 p.m.
Crews were quickly on the scene that morning, at the corner of Franklin Avenue and Williams Street, where police directed traffic for most of the day.
“For the first 20 minutes, everybody had really low water pressure, but then we were able to isolate that area,” Kreiter said. “We just replaced some valves in the Grice, Graham, Franklin area, so we were able [address the problem quickly]. It was probably just a handful of people that were affected.”
Kreiter said workers from Goodie Hill Groundwork assisted Berlin workers in the maintenances.
“The repair was probably completed at 3:30 or 4 p.m., but then we still had road repair and compaction. [Workers] probably didn’t leave until about 6,” she said.
By around 4 p.m., what started as a gurgling hole in the road just a few feet across had grown into a trench large enough to fit a public works worker. Despite rainy and cold conditions and a full day of labor, town employees could still be seen smiling and working as cars drove slowly past the repair site, one lane at a time.
“I’ve always said this, but for some reason when the crap hits the fan, they all just fall in line and it’s real teamwork. Its incredible to see,” Kreiter said.