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Thar she blows

A water-main break at Crafts and Reservoir roads in Brookline means an impromptu geyser and water-pressure issues in the area, Brookline Police report.

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Well, certainly a water pipe was opened and was geysering up about 30 feet (at least) [but see my update/clarification below].

However, it appears that it didn't just break (in the "our crumbling infrastructure" sense). National Grid has had its contractors out here doing something with the gas lines in the street for the past few weeks. Apparently they inadvertently "tapped" (in the sense of lightly touched) some kind of relief valve on an 8" water line, which broke off.

Brookline water et al. responded - and we had no water for only about an hour (I live within yards of this). All in all, it was a pretty quick remedy - and as usual, all the town personnel (water, fire and police) were polite and kept us informed.

It could have been much worse - there is something like a 48" main a couple of yards further up the street that goes between a pumping station and the CH Reservoir.

UPDATE/CLARIFICATION: The "water main" was not broken. A little "nub" or relief valve (which extends off of the water main) that was tapped was apparently either not marked, not marked properly, and/or installed where it should not have been (i.e., and this is something that I was wondering about, there was no manhole there, so why would there be a relief valve? if it "relieved" and the ground hadn't already been opened, wouldn't such relief cause a sinkhole?). Anyway, it appears that Grid's contractor quickly repaired the thing and cleaned everything up nicely. As of 3 p.m., it looks like nothing but routine work happened. Really, given the circumstances, it was a good response all around.

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