Burst pipe ‘tears’ through road on Bird Street

A water pipe burst on Bird Street on May 21, tearing through a portion of the road like a piece of paper.

With a look of bewilderment on their faces, residents said it was unlike anything they had ever seen before.

Water Services Customer Relations Manager, Doctor Dumisani Thabethe said they received the call at about 10am.

As clean water spewed from the cracks, residents cordoned off the road with garbage bags while they waited for municipal traffic officials to arrive.

As a small crowd gathered, traffic officials blocked off the road with bright orange cones and diverted oncoming traffic. Residents became concerned the road might cave in before the burst pipe could be attended to.

Within minutes, municipal officials arrived on scene to assess the damage. Workers determined it was necessary for a large section of the road to be dug up in order to conduct proper repairs.

“Bursts of this magnitude normally take six to eight hours to repair,” said Dr Thabethe. “The pipe burst due to old age.”

The repair was completed at about 5pm on Thursday evening. Residents commended Newcastle Municipality for mending the damage promptly.

The water department does not have a ‘costing system’ in place for extensive repairs, but Dr Thabethe said they would be able to determine the cost once they have the ‘stores module of E-MIS working’.

Although residents were shocked by the apparent severity of the pipe burst, it was nothing new to water department staff.

“This is a normal burst situation for us. The only problem was that we had to isolate a large area due to old valves not closing properly,” concluded Dr Thabethe.