Burst pipe interrupts services, triggers boil water advisory

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BY SARAH BARBAN, Eastern Shore Post —

Sunday morning dawned with frustration and grumbling for residents of Onancock after a burst pipe beneath the Ames Street bridge meant there was no water for morning coffee, baby formula, or hot showers. 

The pipe in question, which was the original line installed when the Mount Prospect neighborhood got water service, turned out to be a headache for the town as well. 

The old, cast iron pipe shouldn’t have had water in it, said Matt Spuck, Onancock’s town manager, at a town council meeting on Monday, Jan. 27.

The pipe is a remnant of Onancock’s old water system, which predates the PVC waterlines that were put in several decades ago. On the morning of Sunday, Jan. 26, the old, 6-inch cast iron pipe under the bridge leaked in three places.

The leaks were significant enough that the water tower wasn’t able to pump water quickly enough to replace what was being consumed through regular use and all the water being lost through the leaks. 

So the water tower began to drain, dropping the level of the tank at the top of the water tower below the necessary level. That triggered an alarm that let town staff know something was wrong. 

“They drove through town and easily found that underneath the Ames Street bridge was what looked like a fire hydrant that had been broken off,” Spuck said.

The problem was exacerbated when the maps public works employees had showing the valve system didn’t align with reality. 

“Some 30 years ago, when the old system was replaced, some of the valves in the system were reused and repurposed, and some were brand new and were part of the new system,” Spuck said. 

“So we have these maps that show a valve that’s not there and we have maps that show a valve and there are three of them.” 

The original plan was to isolate the Mount Prospect area so that the rest of town, which includes Shore Memorial Riverside Hospital and the DaVita Dialysis Center, would still have water while repairs were made.

That proved impossible with the confusion over what valves controlled what. Instead, the crew capped the cast iron pipe on one end and reattached it. 

Workers didn’t need to cap the other end of the pipe because the valve on the street at that end worked, Spuck said. 

When water was restored, a boil water advisory was issued because the water pressure dropped below 15 PSI for a sustained period. 

When pressure drops there is less water flowing through the lines, which can increase the chance of contamination, Spuck said. 

Onancock’s water is tested daily and it tested safe once the tower regained its normal level. 

The first water test by the Department of Clean Drinking Water also tested safe, but the department requires two back-to-back clean tests before a boil water advisory can be lifted. 

The boil water advisory was in effect from roughly 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 26, and had not been lifted by press time on Thursday, Jan. 30, as the town was still waiting on results from the second Department of Clean Drinking Water test, which had to be separated from the first test by 16 hours. 

When asked by council member Sarah Nock how Onancock could get a clearer picture of its water infrastructure, Spuck had an answer ready. 

The first purchase the town made with its federal American Rescue Plan Act funds was a GIS tool that will help the town map where the water meters and valves are in town. 

The town is preparing to replace all of the water meters in town. Once that is done staff will be trained to use the GIS tool and will eventually be able to map the system in its current state, Spuck said.

Communicating information about the water outages and the boil water advisory to all residents also proved challenging for the town. 

“Many people came in (Monday) who were older residents of our town and they do not use social media or smart phones and they came in because they were concerned their pipes were frozen and they didn’t have water,” said Mariellen Mearsheimer, administrative assistant for the town. “They had not heard anything about the leak at all and there was quite a number of those people.” 

Notices about the water issues were communicated to residents through email blasts, text message alerts, a banner on the town website, on the town’s social media, and through WESR. 

The town is looking into transitioning its messaging system to one that includes telephones, Spuck said. 

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