Downtown water main break update

City officials said Friday afternoon a faulty pipe may have been the cause of the main water line break that shut down water and electricity for numerous businesses in downtown Springfield on Thursday evening.

The city’s water division manager, Todd LaFountain, said he was alerted by the water purification plant  around 5:30 p.m. of “some suppressive pressure in the downtown area.”

“This one was obviously easy to find, because it was a big break,” he said.

A heavy and steady flow of water sprung out of Monroe Street and made its way south on Fourth and Fifth streets. The water pressure visibly cracked the streets in various spots.

City crews have been working around the clock to replace a 20-foot section of the broken water pipe. It will be replaced with a ductile iron pipe, which is considered of higher quality.

LaFountain said the cast iron pipe was created in 1953, but installed in the late 1960s.

“You do have stock failures in different places, but 100 years old is generally the design life of this type of pipe,” he said.

LaFountain said the city routinely checks water lines, with a third of them getting inspected each year. The site of the broken pipe, he said, was checked a couple of years ago and was fine at that time.

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The pipe work is expected to be completed by late Friday evening.  Thereafter, LaFountain said the water line will be flushed out. Four or five buildings will be on a boil alert until Sunday, due to the process.

City officials said it will take a couple of weeks to repair the street that was left with a huge gaping hole.

Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher said she’ll be reviewing the city’s finances to see what money can be applied for the unexpected repair. 

“There might be some unappropriated fund balance that we need to use in order to help repair everything and pay all the crews,”she said.

Buscher said she plans on meeting with local businesses impacted by the water main break next week. IT previously reported on several nearby businesses experiencing flooding that then caused the electricity to be temporarily shut off.