Residents of East Bridgewater were met with an unfortunate sight yesterday morning as a severe water main break unleashed a deluge onto Central Street; the old infrastructure giving way was heralded by a sudden decrease in water pressure for local users. WHDH reports that the incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. near the 1400 block, according to eyewitness accounts, water poured down akin to a river flooding the streets in what was a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities within the city's aged water system.
The water main, owned by the City of Brockton, elicited surprise and confusion among the neighborhood with one resident likening the scene to Californian floods and another, Cindy Cetoute, detailing the inundation of her home where personal belongings from clothes to a refrigerator suffered damage. "I came out and it was like, I thought we were in California with the way the floods are happening in California now just pouring down," the neighbor told WHDH, with Cetoute adding, "This is my first time seeing my driveway like this, but you know they said they will fix everything fully."
The rupture has been linked to a 97-year-old pipe, according to Boston25News. Commissioner of Public Works for Brockton, Patrick Hill, commented on the age of the pipe, dating to 1928 and how a power loss at Silver Lake in Pembroke could have triggered the event. "Down at Silver Lake in Pembroke, they lost power for about 10 seconds. Usually, that’s what it takes for the generator to kick on, so in that time, what happens is sometimes it sends a surge into the line from being off and then being on 10 seconds later," Hill explained.
Crews worked into the night to manage the aftermath of the break and to prevent further damages. While the Commissioner assured residents that their water usage could continue as normal, despite the severity of the break, which echoed a similar incident from 2015 on an adjacent section of the same pipe; admittedly, such issues are not uncommon, with multiple occurrences annually, "This happens a couple times a year, it’s nothing that we don’t do. Normally, we do all our own water main repairs in the city. It’s just size-wise, it’s a big pipe, a 24-inch cast-iron water main," Commissioner Hill told Boston25News.
