Durham Construction Causes Water Main Break

Lisa Duller, who lives in Champions Village, turned on her tap Friday afternoon, only to hear air escaping from it. Other neighbors had water, but little pressure.

"I tried calling the water utility but they closed at 3:30pm.  I then called City Hall and I was told that there was a water main break near Big Muskego," she said.

Follow up with city officials on Monday confirmed that road construction crews on Durham Drive had been installing a manhole and backfilling it.

"The vibration from the process caused the pipe to break," said City Planner Jeff Muenkel.

He added that the break caused the watertowers, which are placed on the north side of the city, to drop; this then triggered an alarm to turn on the wells, one along Durham Drive.  Generally the wells are not running during the day to save on electricity costs according to Muenkel, but as water levels in the towers were draining, the response is automatic.

"While we don't want situations like this to occur, we were pleased to see that when there is a break, that the alerts that are supposed to happen, do," he said.  In this instance, the break took place at about 2:30 p.m., and the wells were turned on within 10 to 15 minutes.

Crews working on the manhole were also equipped to repair the water main, and did so in about two hours.  

Muenkel added that for the duration of the project, they would run the three wells during the day as well to prevent any further issues.