It started with water leaking from an old water-line valve on Warren Sharon Road just west of Scotty’s Brookfield Express Mart on Monday.
In order to replace it, crews from the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer had to shut down water service on Warren Sharon Road, said Senior Environmental Engineer Ron Watson.
“When they did that, we have some old lines on Bedford Road,” he said. “It spawned three additional breaks.”
The latest break was discovered Tuesday.
Everything is fixed, but the engineer had to issue a boil-water advisory as a precautionary measure for these areas, Watson said: “East of Route 7 on Warren Sharon Road down to Yankee Run Road. Bedford Road, Warren Sharon Road, Yankee Run Road, Lincoln Avenue and Valley View allotment.”
Over time, the chemicals used to treat water build up on the inside of the pipes, Watson said. When the pipes are depressurized, those chemicals can dislodge. Also, when lines are opened, contaminants from the outside can get into the water, he said.
The engineer recommended that water used in drinking and cooking should be heated to a rolling boil for three to five minutes before ingesting.
promoOfficials are waiting for the results of tests on water samples drawn at noon Tuesday. It takes about 24 hours for the testing process to be completed, he said. If those tests come back that the water is safe, the boil-water advisory will be lifted, he said.
The thin-walled iron lines at issue are probably 50 to 60 years old, Watson said.
“At this time, we are trying to look for some funding to try to replace those lines,” Watson said.
A water-line replacement project likely would tackle the areas of Bedford Road, Lincoln Street and Yankee Run Road first, three places where there have been problems in recent years, Watson said, noting there were three breaks on Yankee Run over the winter.
New lines would be made of ductile iron or PVC plastic, depending on the money available and the project design. PVC lines are “more cost-effective,” he said.