By Walter Elliott
NEWARK – Newark’s Department of Water and Sewer Utilities, as of press time, have had a busy Aug. 9-17 repairing its affected underground lines since the big Aug. 9 Branch Brook Park break.
The fourth and latest recorded break opened up around 17 Academy St. downtown between 1:35 and 1:53 a.m. Wednesday, closing that street for two blocks plus Halsey Street between Raymond Boulevard and Market Street for the day.
Mark Di Ionno, who handles public safety subjects in Mayor Ras Baraka’s Office of Public Information, told “Local Talk” at that scene at 8:30 a.m. that an eight-inch-diameter fire lateral line had broken. Its breakage affects fire sprinkler service to nearby buildings – and is separate from potable, or drinking, water mains.
“Local Talk” meanwhile noticed progress at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday at the site of the 42-in. diameter main break at westbound Branch Brook Park Drive North on the Belleville border.
Newark WSU workers and contractor Montana Construction, of Lodi, had closed the broken main, extricated the car that had fallen in the resulting sinkhole and shored up the 15-by-13-foot opening with plywood. A Montana generator continues to empty the pit’s remaining water.
A DeFalco’s Towing crane truck from Chatham had pulled the late model four-door Toyota from the pit late Aug. 10. Lizette Pagan, of Jersey City, said she was driving west and was following three cars ahead of her when the pavement gave way. She escaped with several bruises on her arms.
Pagan told reporters that she is commuting by Uber for the time being. She said her liability insurance policy will not cover her car’s loss or damage.
NWSU, the Belleville Water Department and related agencies and contractors, however, have Essex County Sheriff’s Officers keep closed the drive between its Branch Brook Park Drive West merge and the drive’s intersection with Mt. Prospect and Union avenues and Mill Street. When the repair is made and the drive reopened remain as open questions.
In between were two Aug. 11 water main breaks in Newark’s West Ward. One was by 15th Avenue and South 15th Street; the other at 19th Avenue and South 19th Street. According to social media posts, there was said to be another break on Norwood Place at Telford Street, but that was not confirmed by city officials as of press time.
The four officially recognized breaks kept Newark Water and Sewer and its colleagues busy and up to 100,000 affected homes searching for water elsewhere. The affected homes include those in Belleville and in Newark’s North, West, Central and South wards who are fed by Newark’s Pequannock Water System.
At least the Academy Street break did not add to the water consumption woes.
Both Belleville, since Aug. 13, and Newark, as of 7 p.m. that Saturday, have lifted their boil water advisories.
Customers who use Newark’s Pequannock Water System are still asked to run their faucets for three- to five-minutes before use. NWSU further advises said customers to flush water out of their water heaters, water chillers and automatic ice dispensers.
Water reservoirs in tall buildings should be drained and refilled. Service connections with attached water softeners or cartridge filters “should be run through a refrigeration cycle or other procedures recommended by the manufacturer.”
The above advisories were posted, however, before Newark Water and its contractors were fixing two Aug. 11-14 water main breaks in the West Ward. Those breaks led to West Side and Vailsburg section customers experiencing little or no water pressure.
One of the operators of the Melo Mini Market at 568 15th Ave., told “Local Talk” 9 a.m. Aug. 16 that their water was not restored from the practically next-door South 15th Street water main break until 11 p.m. Aug. 14.
The break, across from 570 15th Avenue in its eastbound lanes, was patched by asphalt the size of two cars parked side-by-side. A Montana backhoe and a pair of Newark Police Division sawhorses were parked nearby.
A 2 a.m. video recording has a six-foot-tall geyser coming from the broken 30-in. main. Officials have said that “a pressure surge” had led to that break.
A concurrent break had occurred at 19th Avenue and South 19th Street. “Local Talk,” at 8:45 a.m. Aug. 16, found a patch on 19th Avenue’s westbound lanes.
Back at Academy and Halsey streets, the Newark Police Division had promptly closed Halsey between Raymond Boulevard and Market streets plus Academy between Broad and Washington. Bank Street, which runs past the Newark Public Schools administration offices, was also closed between Broad and Washington.
Southbound Broad Street traffic, including NJTransit and Coach USA buses, would lose the left lane so that NWSU and Montana workers could access the fire line’s closing valves.
The affected area includes the 13-story Academy Building at 17 Academy St. and the 60-story Prudential Plaza Building. 17 Academy, built in 1930, held “Local Talk” editorial office 2015-20. The landmark Prudential Plaza, 745-755 Broad, was built in 1960.
None of the residents or business owners in that four block area, when surveyed 8:30-9 a.m., had reported any loss of drinking water or related damage.
“I don’t know of any basements that were flooded,” said Newark Public Works Director Kareem Adeem at Noon on site. “I mean, however; when an underground pipe breaks, a lot of the underground manholes and conduits tend to get water in them. That water could travel to a basement as far as a mile away.”
Di Ionno said that the corrective work also includes opening a hole on Halsey Street just south of Raymond Boulevard to access the line itself. The break will be closed by snaking a smaller diameter line within the eight-inch line.
“I want to thank the Department of Water and Sewer Utilities and the Newark police and fire divisions,” said Baraka, “for working collaboratively and efficiently to fix the situation and assisting on the scene.”
