Water main bursts in street

City council network maintenance operators foreman Tom Hotton with the damaged water main that...
City council network maintenance operators foreman Tom Hotton with the damaged water main that caused surface flooding on part of Dunedin's main shopping street. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Contractors had to make emergency repairs after a 100-year-old water main burst in Dunedin's main shopping street early yesterday.

The water main, running under the tiled George St footpath, blew out about 4.30am, releasing 49 litres of water a second until contractors arrived to shut down the damaged pipe shortly afterwards.

Dunedin City Council network maintenance operators foreman Tom Hotton said the water pooled on the street outside the Jay Jays clothing store at the Moray Pl intersection, damaging some footpath tiles but not flooding nearby shops.

The damaged water main, which was "at least 100 years old", was replaced by about 9am.

"We were lucky," Mr Hotton said.

Jay Jays staff said, when contacted, the store was open for business yesterday.

A small amount of water which entered the shop was mopped up.

DCC water and waste services manager John Mackie said when contacted the council already spent "several million dollars" each year on network renewal.

But council staff were part-way through a major network review that would eventually lead to a reassessment of priorities and an increase in the overall pace of work, he said.

"There's a historic backlog of asset pipeline renewals. We need to do a lot of preventive renewal work."

 

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