A valve blew out inside the Crown Water Treatment Plant in Westlake last month, sending water spraying wildly through the facility and injuring four workers. One of those workers, according to his son, suffered critical internal injuries in the accident. The Crown plant is part of the city of Cleveland's water system, treating drinking water for communities across the region's western suburbs.
New video obtained by FOX 8's I-Team, reported by Ed Gallek and Peggy Gallek, shows the water raging through the plant in the moments after the blowout. In audio from a 911 call obtained by the outlet, a caller can be heard telling dispatchers, "A big pipe blew out. A big water pipe blew out. A big water main. We got guys down and hurt." Westlake Fire crews responded and transported all four injured workers to the hospital, per the same report.
The son of the most seriously injured worker described the accident as severe, telling the outlet that his father suffered critical internal injuries and has been hospitalized since Thursday. The father has undergone multiple surgeries, according to the station's report. A second worker suffered broken ribs, and equipment involved in the accident weighed hundreds of pounds, according to multiple accounts.
Valve Burst Confirmed, City Council Presses for Answers
A Cleveland Water Department spokesperson confirmed to the outlet that a valve burst, but the department declined to answer further questions on camera. The city separately said it has no cameras covering the area where the incident occurred, according to a city statement. Cleveland officials also did not immediately release an initial incident report, writing that it had no records of one, according to the same report.
Cleveland City Council's Utilities Committee, chaired by Ward 13 Councilman Brian Kazy, is exercising its oversight role and pressing for more information about what happened. Kazy said the city's Department of Public Utilities should complete its investigation before Cleveland City Council receives a full briefing on the accident. He added that the council hopes everyone involved will recover.
Ohio's PERRP Program, Not Federal OSHA, Oversees the Probe
Because the injured workers are municipal employees, their case falls under Ohio's Public Employment Risk Reduction Program rather than federal OSHA, which covers only private-sector workers in the state, according to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. PERRP is administered by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation and enforces federal safety standards under state law. Under PERRP rules, public employers must report any work-related incident resulting in an employee's inpatient hospitalization to the state within 24 hours of learning of it, per the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.
A 68-Year-Old Plant With a Top Industry Rating
Located at 955 Clague Road, the Crown plant has operated since 1958 and is the only one of Cleveland's four treatment plants located outside the city limits. It produces an average of 40 million gallons of drinking water a day with a maximum treatment capacity of 130 million gallons, according to the Cleveland Water Department. The facility has held a Phase IV Excellence in Water Treatment designation from the Partnership for Safe Water since 2014, a distinction recognizing performance that exceeds federal drinking water requirements.
Raw water reaches the Crown plant through an eight-foot-diameter pipe extending 2.5 miles into Lake Erie, feeding an onsite well connected to two 54-inch high-pressure water mains, according to a Village of Moreland Hills document detailing the system's infrastructure. That network of heavy piping carries raw water into the plant before it undergoes multi-stage treatment, according to the same document.
Part of a Regional Grid Already Strained by Summer Blowouts
The Crown plant feeds into a much larger operation: Cleveland's Division of Water is the largest public utility in Ohio and the 10th largest in the country, supplying roughly 1.4 million customers across 80 Northeast Ohio communities. Cleveland Water manages nearly 5,400 miles of water mains across six counties, a network that has shown signs of strain this summer, including a $400,000 pavement collapse in Parma on July 18, as Hoodline previously reported. The accident also follows renewed scrutiny of Cleveland Water site security: Hoodline reported in March on the fence-breach bodycam video, which prompted council discussion of monitoring at utility properties.
