Water main breaks prove to be more than a simple inconvenience - WOWT

Water main breaks prove to be more than a simple inconvenience

Infrastructure repairs and replacements call for a utilities balancing act

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - No time is a good time for a water main break, and nobody dislikes them more than Metropolitan Utilities District.

In one night, M.U.D. was called to two broken mains requiring manpower.

The first, near the Florence Water Production Plant, remains a large job involving aging infrastructure that was in an area already on the city’s infrastructure replacement map.

Meanwhile, out in Millard, a residential area near Millard West High School went without water until 10:00 a.m. when M.U.D. workers ran into some unexpected complications.

Water main breaks are part of the job, but managing water now and in the future remains a huge priority for cities like Omaha.

“Several days in a row of very high water usage can really... put some serious strain on the water systems,” said Eric Hunt, an Agriculture Climatologist for the Nebraska State Climate Office. “I know here in Lincoln, we’ve had voluntary water restrictions since June 1. I think we’ve had plenty, we had good moisture in late June, the first part of July, so things actually look really green here. Most people haven’t been watering that much.”

Even in the summer months, the stretch of 176th Street across from Millard West High School is pretty busy.

Fortunately, only 25 residential customers were without water. On top of that, the water main break had no impact on the Nebraska American Legion baseball tournament being played across the street.

“What you don’t want to see is, you know, pockets of towns or cities where you have really low pressure, people don’t have good water flow into their houses because there are such shortages in the system,” Hunt said.

Large municipal utilities like M.U.D. are faced with the exhausting challenge of fixing infrastructure paid for by customers while keeping a constant eye on water resource management.

Hunt says cities have a vital role to play as tremendous water users.

“I think certainly you have to consider current climate and future climate,” he said. “We will probably have more really hot days, more extremes, so managing and storing, being able to store water, will be very crucial. And I think in general, just coming up with guidelines for commercial uses and residential uses.”

M.U.D. is still asking its customers to restrict their outdoor water usage while the broken water mains receive necessary repairs.

Copyright 2023 WOWT. All rights reserved.