Dublin narrowly misses water cut-off
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Dublin city crews respond to a water line break around Highland Avenue and Mesquite that affected the water service to local residents including the nearby apartments. Public works employees were all on-call this past week responding to 100-200 calls for service as water freezing in pipes resulted in cracks and breaks around town. Cory James | submitted photo
Although last week’s snow had melted and warmer temperatures returned by last weekend many Dublin residents were left with a costly reminder of last week’s subfreezing temperatures: broken and cracked water lines.
Dublin Public Works Directors Cory James reported that crews were dispatched to turn off water to somewhere between 100 and 200 buildings after leaks were found draining water onto the properties.
The breaks reached their most critical point on the night of Wednesday, Feb. 17.
“We were going through more water than Upper Leon could send us,” said James. (Upper Leon is the Municipal Water District that serves Dublin and many of the nearby communities. “We got a call from Upper Leon, and they said they would have to turn the water off if we couldn’t get [the amount of water draining] down.”
Public Works crews went out to check any spots on the city lines that could be vulnerable. While patrolling, they found 15 to 20 properties where pipes had broken, and “lakes had formed in yards.”
Shutting off these locations saved the city and residents losing water completely.
James said he is appreciative of the public works crew, who were all working on and off to keep the city’s system working and responding to calls of frozen or broken lines.
He also said Upper Leon offered quick notifications and constant communication throughout the freeze.
These, coupled with its shortcycling of the pumps to keep them from freezing up, were integral to keeping water flowing.
James said the biggest problem for Dubliners came mainly in pier and beam houses with insufficient or nonexistent insulation of pipes and/ or open skirting. He also said there were many homes on concrete foundations that lost a portion of their plumbing.
“Any time you have exposed pipes, you need to have them insulated,” James said.
James said residents can fight pipes from freezing by running a small stream through facets to keep them open, but cautions against leaving them too far open as too much usage would produce stress on the city system. People can also leave the cabinets under faucets open so the pipes can absorb the heat of the room.
James feels fortunate that the city didn’t lose power, because the damage would’ve been worse without homes providing heat for their pipes.
James asked residents to check their lines for proper insulation and any bulges or cracks following the freeze, saying that freezing and unfreezing can cause them to expand and degrade.
He also extended his gratitude to residents for reporting any broken or cracked lines because they saved a bad situation from getting much worse.