Crews unsure when repairs to ruptured Boston water main will be complete

Repair work continues Wednesday after a water main broke, sending large amounts of water rushing through Boston streets, the city’s Water and Sewer Commission confirmed.The incident happened Tuesday near the border of the Roxbury and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods, at Columbus Avenue and the intersection of Centre and Richie streets. The pipe that ruptured, according to Boston Water and Sewer Chief Engineer John Sullivan, was a 12-inch main, which was being fed water by a 36-inch long transmission line next to it. The transmission line needs to be turned off in order to stop the water from flowing. “It was dispensing an enormous amount of water, about 15,000 gallons of water a minute,” which is extremely high and very unusual for one of those 12-inch mains that typically feed a neighborhood,” Sullivan said.The 36-inch main is unscathed, but BWSC will run a water pressure test to confirm before paving the road. The impact only to the 12-inch main means that repair work could go by faster.Crews say they are unsure exactly how long repairs could take as the work is now expected to stretch into Thursday.”There’s going to be a little more pressure testing that’s going on, just to see what’s needed. Is there a clamp or other piece of work that needs to be done? So we’re going to keep looking at the 36. The 36 is not out of the woods yet, so to speak,” said Stephen Mulloney, of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. Traffic is down to one lane in each direction on a section of Columbus Avenue.”We’ll see what happens. We have to get down in the hole first, because until you see the pipe and the condition. And then we get it fixed and make the connection, you know, everything’s on hold,” Mulloney said.On Tuesday, built-up trash on the streets caused nearby drains to clog and prevented water from effectively draining. Water from the break seeped into nearby buildings, causing owners to place sandbags near doorways in fear of flooding.Bruce Marks, who rents the first floor of a nearby building for his non-profit, said his space was flooded as a result of the break. “It’s been over two hours, and even now you can see that it’s still flooding. What they’re doing is they’re trying to drain it and can’t drain it as fast as the water is coming,” Marks said. “How is it in the city of Boston that they can’t even figure out how to cut off the water main when there’s a burst pipe?” Sky 5 video showed the streets flooded with brown, murky water, partially submerging nearby parked cars. Several residential and commercial buildings are located near the break, including three family childcare providers. A spokesperson for JD Family Daycare confirmed that the building was evacuated and all children were picked up by parents and are safe.”I’m just glad they cared for the kids, put them in the right spot, kept them away from the water. I’m just happy she’s okay, just like I’m happy I got her,” one parent said.