PORT ANGELES — Workers hope to have today’s water main break, which left about 120 customers without water, repaired by midnight.
“That’s all dependent on not uncovering something unforeseen,” said Craig Fulton, Port Angeles Public Works director.
“City crews will be working on this until it is repaired, however long it takes.”
Crews were dispatched to the 20-inch water main break at the 1200 block of Craig Avenue at 3:34 a.m. Wednesday, Fulton said.
Crews shut water off at the reservoir, causing a large area to be without water service until repairs can be made, he said.
Peninsula College’s Port Angeles campus was closed because of the break.
Workers had to excavate down to the line, which was buried 6 to 10 feet down, Fulton said.
Crews made it it down to the pipe in the afternoon and was set to remove water from the excavation area at about 3:45 p.m., he said.
The extent of the damage wasn’t known then, but Fulton anticipates crews will cut out the section of pipe and replace it with a new section, although there are other options.
“I can’t give an update until they get it dewatered,” he said.
At this point it isn’t clear how much money the break will cost the city, he said.
“It’ll be city crew time plus any materials they might need,” Fulton said. “We won’t know until we get it all wrapped up.”
Homes inside city limits and south of Park Street and east of Mount Angeles will be without water service until crews can complete the repairs.
The concrete line that broke is one of the oldest water mains in the city, he said. It was installed in 1961 to replace the wood stave transmission line that was installed in the 1930s.
The water main, one of the city’s major transmission lines was previously used to pull water from Morse Creek, but is now used to pull water from the Elwha River.
Most of the pipe has been abandoned, but to replace the portion that is used would be “expensive and logistically difficult.”
While this break was likely because of the pipe’s age, he said other recent breaks were due to the cold weather and not being installed deep enough.
The break caused erosion damage to Craig Avenue, but the road is still serviceable. Most of the water was diverted to ditches with no known major property damage.
However, the water flowed into an apartment complex.
“We will have to assess any damage done to private property,” he said.
While the water main feeds Clallam County Public Utility District’s Gales Addition reservoir, no PUD customers were affected, said Michael Howe, PUD spokesperson.
“The reservoir is full, so it’s not impacted,” he said.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
