Early Saturday morning, City maintenance crews discovered water leaking from a Pressure Release Vault (PRV) along Pony Express Parkway.
One lane of Pony Express eastbound was closed, and traffic was diverted while City crews worked to find the source of the leak.
According to Public Utilities Manager Mack Straw, the cause of the leak was difficult to ascertain due to the age of the line.
“It should’ve been a fairly simple shut down, but due to the nature of when this was installed, to my knowledge, over 20 years ago, the records on that line are not as they are today,” said Straw.
City crews were eventually able to locate the source of the leak.
“We were able, through investigating, checking pressures throughout the neighborhoods around the area, determined where the water line was coming into the system, and we were able to isolate it,” says Straw. “Unfortunately, it affected the Sundance and Cold Springs subdivisions.”
About 130 homes were without water from 3 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. in the Sundance and Cold Springs neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon and evening. The Sundance neighborhood experienced longer delays in water restoration.
Per standard operation, City water employees went door-to-door alerting affected residents of the pending water shut-off.
Straw recognizes that some residents may not have been made aware of the shut-off if they weren’t home or don’t follow the City on social media.
“When it’s time-sensitive, it’s hard to do much other than that,” says Straw.
City crews worked nonstop in the area for almost two days, rotating crews out in shifts.
Straw says that while crews were working to fix the leak, other inefficiencies were discovered that the water department plans to resolve to avoid incidents like this water main break in the future.
“We’re going to upgrade it and fit some joint restraints to stop those fittings from moving,” says Straw.
Due to supply chain issues, as well as making additional preventative repairs, Straw believes the right lane on Pony Express Parkway eastbound will remain closed until Monday or Tuesday. (UPDATE: Streets Department crews estimate asphalt work will take place Tuesday)
“Nobody else will be out of water, even after these other repairs that we’re going to make, it will not impact any other residents,” says Straw.
Straw expresses his gratitude to the residents while City crews handled the situation.
“We appreciate their patience,” he said. “This is an unforeseen situation that couldn’t have been avoided and we’re doing our best with limited resources.”
