While the water main break at United Water Delaware was fixed fairly quickly in terms of customer service, restoring the broken main turned out to be a difficult process.
In a social media post, the utility thanked its employees for their work in fixing “one of the largest water main breaks in recent United Water Delaware history” and offered some details on the task of fixing the line.
The post included photos of the work that took place. Normal water service was restored the same day as the break, through isolating the break and bypassing the line.
The area affected included a large part of United’s system, which operates in a large portion of New Castle County. Areas affected included the Newark area and Bear-Glasgow.
“It took seven days and nights of dedication and hard work to overcome what can only be described as colossal challenges to complete repairs,” United reported. It turned out that the 20- inch water main broke in a location that is partially submerged in tidal creek waters and only a few feet from a railroad bridge carrying high speed traffic along one of Amtrak’s busiest rail lines.
“It is also a very real example of the aging infrastructure issues water providers face across this country where, on average, it is estimated there is a water main break every two minutes. Nationally, it is also estimated that up to one trillion dollars will be needed to bring water infrastructure up to standard over the next 25 years,” United noted.
