Broken Tribeca Water Main Was From 1870

While building tenants were allowed back to their apartments and stores after a water main broke in Tribeca yesterday morning, the clean-up will take a while. Sean Hershkowitz, an owner of the terrific Balloon Saloon, said, "Everything has been totally destroyed. All of our inventory was in the basement," while A Uno clothing store owner Ann Benedetto lamented about computer equipment and clothing in her basement, "I have product here for fall that’s soaking." The main that broke at Duane and West Broadway was from 1870; the DEP told the Tribeca Tribune that it was just old. DEP Commissioner Steven Lawitts said, "Cast iron, after many years of freezes and thaws and street vibrations will break if not replaced." He added that even hough the city spend $200-300 million to replace old water pipes, "Unfortunately we can’t be everywhere with programmed replacement, so we still have these random occurrences, which we have to treat just as quickly as we can.”