Boston Battles Water Emergency
May 3, 2010
In what Fred Laskey, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), called a "worst nightmare" scenario for the water industry, more than 2 million Boston-area residents were without clean drinking water after a 10-foot-wide pipe broke on Saturday. The rupture occurred in the suburb of Weston, but has since been fixed and is operating at full capacity, according to an article by the Associated Press.
The breach spilled millions of gallons of clean water into the Charles River, forcing the MWRA to rely on an unclean reservoir to meet the water demands of Boston and 30 surrounding communities. For three days, as many as 750,000 households were under order to boil their tap water before ingesting it. Early Tuesday morning, Gov. Deval Patrick lifted the boil water order following environmental tests confirming the safety of the water supply.
Though repairs were originally expected to take weeks, the job was completed in a matter of hours through modifications made to a spare coupling from a nearby project. Concerned about the vulnerability of the infrastructure, the MWRA began repairing Boston's supply line nine months ago — a $700 million project still three to four years from being finished. The failed stretch of pipe in question, however, was only seven years old, prompting concerns that similar connections may be faulty. The design, construction, and the product itself will be investigated in an effort to prevent a repeat situation in the future.
