Water Service Fully Restored In Little Silver, Water Main Break Cleanup Continues

Little Silver, NJ -- A 115-year-old 36-inch cast iron water main that developed a hole early Saturday morning has been repaired and water service restored to customers in four towns, a New Jersey American Water company spokesman said Tuesday.

Peter A. Eschbach, director of communications and external affairs for the company, said crews were putting a temporary road patch into place Tuesday to cover the hole near the intersection of Rumson Place and Grant Place after the water main was repaired.

"We were finishing up the restoration today," he said. "We couldn't put blacktop down until today because the asphalt places were closed for the holiday."

"It's a small crater," Eschback said. "It was a transmission main, probably the biggest one in that local area." The cast iron pipe had been in place since 1901, he said.

"Back then they made the cast iron pipes unbelievably thick," he said. "We hadn't had any issues with it until now," despite the age of the pipe.

But right about midnight as Friday night became Saturday morning, the main failed, disrupting water service to about 5,000 customers across Red Bank, Little Silver, Rumson and Fair Haven, he said.

"It blew and created a hole in the street," Eschbach said. About 150 customers in the immediate area -- on Rumson Place, Garden Road, Pinckney Road, Branch Avenue, Spring Street, Fox Hill Drive, Silverwhite Avenue, Alden Terrace, Standish Road, Salem Lane and Bennett Lane in Little Silver -- lost water service completely, with the remainder faced with low water pressure as the company pumped water around the break to those areas.

Eschbach said the pipe was only about three feet below the surface of the road; "unusually shallow, usually they're twice that far down," he said. Crews shut off the valves nearest the break, drained the accumulated water and set about removing and replacing a 12-foot section of the main.

"It took them about four hours just to cut through the pipe," because the walls were so thick, Eschbach said.

While that work was being done, the boil water advisory was issued to all the affected customers who still had some water service. Those in the immediate area who were without water were given gallon jugs of water for use until the repairs were completed.

Eschbach said the company also went door-to-door to make sure no homes had suffered damage as a result of the break, which was right in front of the driveway of one home.

"We recommended they move their cars so they could at least get out if they needed to go somewhere," he said.

By about midnight Saturday into Sunday, the main was fully replaced and the company was beginning to restore service, which he said they did slowly to ensure no problems arose as a result of air in the pipes or a sudden change in pressure.

The boil water advisory was lifted for most customers late Saturday when the company was confident waster service would be restored in full by early Sunday, and the remainder received the all-clear later Sunday, he said.

"It was a precautionary boil water advisory," he said. "We were just playing it safe. We would rather be safe than sorry."

Residents were reminded to flush their pipes by running the water for a few minutes because an event like a water main break stirs up sediment that can discolor the water, he said.

Eschbach said after the patched area with the new pipe settles, the final asphalt restoration will be filled in.

New Jersey American Water crew members work to remove part of a 36-inch water main that burst in Little Silver late Friday evening. Photo via New Jersey American Water Twitter account