NewsLeak

A water main break in East Austin, Texas, May 16 caused a sinkhole to open and swallow a school bus. According to the American-Statesman, the bus driver saw that the road was damaged, but was unable to stop in time before the front tires fell into the hole.

Roads near the scene of the incident were closed so crews could work to repair the pavement. The same area was previously worked on by crews who repaired a wastewater line earlier in the year, the Statesman reported.

“The nearby intersection was closed to determine the condition of the street as the sinkhole is getting larger due to a broken underground water pipe,” said Antonio Lujan, an official for the school district.

The sinkhole was between 8 and 12 inches deep. Crews from the public works department were repaving the road where the sinkhole was located and expected the work to be completed the next day.

Sinkhole reported near San Francisco
Eight homes 100 miles north of San Francisco were evacuated and 10 other homes were on notice to be evacuated after a sinkhole opened in Lake County, Calif. The Global Post said there’s a chance that all 30 homes in the neighborhood will be evacuated if the sinkhole cannot be repaired.

The sinkhole in the California hills is slow moving and unpredictable. The cause of the sinkhole is unknown but the county’s Public Works Director Scott De Leon told the source it could be from a dormant volcano.

Students from Miamisburg Middle School in Miamisburg, Ohio, were sent home after a water main break at the building May 16. According to the Dayton Daily News, officials are unsure of the cause of the break and did not say whether students would be able to return to the building for classes the next day.

Students were let out by 10:30 a.m. and busing was available to those students who needed to be transported home.

Water main break reported in Massachusetts
A large water main break caused some trouble in Springfield, Massachusetts, where water was sent four stories into the air, NBC Springfield affiliate WWLP reported. The pipe ruptured near the corner of Maple and Union Streets around noon May 15 and water traveled as far as a half-block from the location of the leak.

“I’ve seen a lot of things in my position, but nothing like this yet,” said Jack Vanasse of the Springfield School Department. “It’s a nice water geyser, it’s like Old Faithful; it kind of reminds me of that.”

Crews from the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission controlled the break fairly quickly despite how large the leak was, according to WWLP. A nearby gas company worker struck the main and caused the break.

Water supply to the main was shut off while workers finished repairs. WWLP said no customers’ water service was disrupted because of the leak.

A 65-year-old Bloomington, Minnesota, man was injured after a sinkhole opened up in the ground beneath where he was walking May 12, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. The man was walking with his wife and dogs around 8:45 a.m. when the ground between a manhole cover and sidewalk caved in.

Police told the Pioneer Press that the sinkhole near 102nd Street West and Scarborough Road was between 8 and 9 feet deep. Rescue crews had to be called to the scene to retrieve the man from the hole. After being pulled from the sinkhole by Bloomington Police, the man was taken to Fairview Southdale Hospital where he was treated for injuries to his shoulder and face.

Authorities from the police department surveyed the area near the sinkhole after rescuing the man and determine that no other ground appeared to be unstable, however, an investigation into the cause of the sinkhole is underway, according to the source.

Maryland sinkhole traps car
After a water main break sent water spewing in Pikesville, Maryland, a car was swallowed by the resulting sinkhole. According to CBS affiliate KTHV 11, public works officials said an 8-inch water main caused the hole to open.

Quency Bynum was leaving his mother’s house when his car fell into the hole. Crews were able to retrieve his car from the sinkhole, the source reported.

Crews were surveying the damage of a May 15 water main break at Forrest Avenue and Garland Street in Bangor, Maine. According to the Bangor Daily News, as many as 25 customers were expected to see a disruption in water service but the number could change after crews reach the source of the leak.

“Either a valve is broken or a pipe is busted,” said Chuck Spencer, assistant construction supervisor of the Bangor Water District.

Water spewed from the ground after the break was discovered around 10 a.m. The leak is expected to be repaired by the end of the day. If the break can be isolated then fewer customers may have to go without water, the article stated.

“We’ll have everybody back in order before we leave,” Spencer added. “They’re going to shut down from Essex Street to just this side of Fruit Street.”

Water main break reported in Pennsylvania
Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, was cleaning up after a water main flooded roadways, NBC10 Philadelphia reported. The line broke under Springfield Avenue between Broadway and Berkley Avenue May 14.

Residents could reportedly see water flowing from two holes in the street. As a result, muddy water gushed down the roadway and what appeared to be pieces of the road were cluttered around the gushers.

Springfield Avenue was closed so crews could shut off the flow of water. The source said it was unknown if there were any homes or businesses in the area affected by the ruptured pipe.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment fined the city of Wichita $700,000 for a leak from a sewage treatment plant, The Associated Press reported. The leak occurred last May after equipment failure and employee error at the plant caused partially-treated sewage to leak into the Arkansas River, killing 850 fish.

Of the $700,000 fine, $455,000 will be applied to a citywide study of deferred sewer maintenance, which will identify possible risks at the plant. The remainder of the fine will be paid out of the city’s public works operating budget. Two public works employees were fired for their errors that contributed to the leak and revealed the city’s maintenance problems.

The article said the leak started after employees failed to notice a rotted gate seal. So many fish were killed in the incident because of the drought’s contribution to historically low river levels.

City officials weren’t surprised by the equipment failure and had already begun planning the repairs to the gate before the leak occurred. According to The Wichita Eagle, the city has set aside $5.5 million for the sewer system’s needed repair and replacements, and it will also set aside a similar amount in 2014.

Wichita is currently financing a risk assessment on the city’s system, and Public Works Director Alan King said they are looking at different approaches to conducting the assessment.

“If we’re going to invest large sums of money in the system, we want to have a sense of how we prioritize those repairs and replacements,” he added.