I was frankly surprised at how little coverage in the media there was about the exploding water main on Wawona Street last Friday (March 8).
I can’t be the only person in town who is a little uneasy about the idea that a 50 foot tall geyser of high pressure water can suddenly appear 40 feet away from the side of your house.
And what about all the people who walk their dog in that area? Any one of them could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time as the “valve” that literally fell off was blown who knows how far into the sky by this plume of high pressure water.
Just imagine how those folks who live in that house next to this thing are feeling about now.
And it’s not like this is the first time something like this ever happened. These days events like this are occurring near Stern Grove once every 30 months.
Is it not obvious that this high volume, high pressure water transmission line is badly in need of some remedial (and preventative) work? Should we not be carving out a little money for this, like, soon? Before someone really does get hurt?
BTW, this was characterized in the Chronicle as a “break”, and that the line “ruptured”. Nope. I do not believe that is what happened here. A piece of the system just fell off. I saw the top of the 8” pipe myself, Friday afternoon. One look at it and it was clear what happened.
I point this out because water mains break all the time, usually because of underground stresses that are placed on them. That is not what happened here. An above-ground piece just fell off (or was blown off).
Not good. And with proper maintenance spending and diligence, not necessary.
Also – a similar nasty leak just happened 30 months ago only a few hundred yards away. While they were repairing things from that event did they not take the time to install an easily accessible shut-off valve, so that in the future they could turn off the flow of water much more quickly? Like the event in August of 2021, Friday’s geyser went on (and on) for the better part of two hours.
