Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
History tends to repeat itself. Actually, it repeated itself 531 times last year and once more over the weekend when a broken water main spewed six million gallons of water into Old City, closing businesses and leaving some customers without water with a serious drop in water pressure.
The pipe burst at 12:15 p.m. on Saturday at 3rd and Walnut Streets when a crew was working to find and repair a crack in the 36-inch pipe. The crew did not, however, cause the break or hit the pipe.
The water was finally shut off at 1:30 p.m., and full water pressure was restored around 2:15 p.m. According to The Inquirer, the pipe, which doesn’t directly supply water to the immediate area, carries more than 100 million gallons a water a day, about 70,000 gallons a minute.
The break left a slightly smaller crater than the Great South Philly Flood of 2012, and no injuries or severe damages were reported. The Inquirer also reports that over the last 28 years, the city has averaged 750 water main breaks a year, probably due to our super-ancient pipes. Last year’s total of 531 was the third lowest.
Perhaps we could use some of that Made in America money to replace the old pipes? Or maybe we’ll just keep having two water main breaks a day…
Source and photos: Philly.com
