It's Like Neighborhood Flooding Dejà Vu!
"Laying water pipe on East Harrison Street, 1899" courtesy of Seattlest Flickr pool member Seattle Municipal Archives
Once again, those not-so-trusty 89-year-old cast iron pipes--installed in 1920, when the Post Office stopped mailing children and Prohibition began--busted, leaving utility crews scrambling to shut off the water and fix the 8-inch water main break flooding the intersection of Greenwood Avenue and 85th Street. Some businesses did take on water, but reports note the flood damage wasn't catastrophic this time.
The water has been turned back on, and Seattle Public Utilities has advised residents who still find the water a lovely shade of rust or dirt brown should just wait until the water is clear before using it.
While crews didn't comment on what caused the break, we made a call to our resident civil engineer insider, who's worked on water mains with various cities' utility programs for thirty-something years. He gave us a few theories and predictions.
Breaking down the engineer-speak he shared with us, we learned that as the earth moves and shifts, the intense pressure from the ground could have sheered the brittle and highly pressurized water pipe. And given the intense summer heat drying out the ground, all the pipe needed was the pressure of the recent rain to crack like an egg.
As for future flooding? Our utility guru chimed in saying, "It's a perpetual nightmare [for cities and their crews] that runs for miles on end. When there's a break, you have to shut off the water, which generally involves shutting down water to four or five city blocks. And when you remove the strength of the water pressure, the pipe loses its support and becomes susceptible to potential sheering or tiny cracks from the ground's pressure, making it only a matter of time before more water main breaks occur."
Wonderful. We'll go ahead and start the pool on what neighborhood will be next to flood.
Sadly, there is no Botox for cast iron pipes--utility crews can't make them any younger once the pipe has lived out its useful water-carrying life. So it looks like Seattle will stick to the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" method, until we take a sensible look at how frail (or strong) our infrastructure may be. Until then, flood insurance is a good bet right about now.
