Water Main At CPW & 105th Breaks

Before 1 a.m. this morning, a 12-inch water main at 105th Street and Central Park West broke, flooding the West 110th subway station and onto Central Park West. WABC 7 reports, "Several hundred residents of nearby buildings were temporarily without water. Meanwhile, subway service on the A & D lines has resumed with residual delays. M10 bus service was briefly suspended until Central Park West was reopened." While the cause of the break is under investigation, let us guess that it was a combination of crumbling infrastructure and last night's crazy cold temperatures.

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By Jen Chung in News on December 30, 2009 8:38 AM

Comments [rss]

WesleySnipesAlot

WCBS 880 says that water main is from 1889. Surprised it lasted as long as it did!

Mr Mel

Much of the below the surface infrastructure was built in the 19th Century that's why we have so many of these water main problems. The materials used were probably state of the art at the time. The snow melting chemicals and salt took more than 100 years to eat their way through. More to come.

JenChungsBaby

In a system with 6,000+ miles of pipes located under busy city streets and near subways there really aren't a lot of problems. The number of water main breaks is down from the 80's and stays pretty consistent from year to year (~500/yr).

A water main from that era is cast iron, which gets more brittle as the ground gets colder (from ~1970 on the pipes are more durable ductile iron). Cold soil also transfers vibrations from vehicles and subways more efficiently, so it's the combination of brittle iron plus increased vibrations that causes more breaks in the winter. Salt is unlikely to be the culprit unless you're talking about a Con Ed manhole fire, though it's possible.