Hydrant mishap leads to main breaks

Murphy’s law took over while the Columbia Fire Department was conducting its annual fire-hydrant test on Saturday.

A hydrant at the corner of Seventh and Locust streets, which Fire Department officials said is at least 25 years old, broke in multiple places as firefighters were closing it late in the morning, said Capt. Adam Sapp. That, in turn, caused a powerful surge of water — called a “water hammer”— that broke the main, Sapp said.

“It’s like driving a car into a brick wall, but it’s water,” he said. “Either the water or the pipe had to give.”

As the water made its way to the surface, it created blisters in the middle of the intersection and in parking lots, and it pushed up the bricks on Locust Street. Several businesses along Seventh and Cherry streets lost running water as a result of the break.

One lane of Seventh Street was closed for much of the day while a water crew worked to repair the break.

Jim Gunderson, the supervisor of the crew, said it’s common for water mains to break during hydrant testing.

“It just stresses the system,” he said. “The Fire Department does a good job of it, but it’s an old system.”

Saturday was the first day of hydrant testing, which could continue through early June. The process involves opening the hydrants, allowing water to flow through until sediment is cleared, lubricating the threads in the hydrant and documenting that each one is working properly, said Lt. Matt Meinert.

Gunderson said that, because downtown water mains are old, it doesn’t take much to break them.

“As it deteriorates, it’ll get a bad spot, a weakness in the wall,” he said. “These mains are in need of being replaced.”

The timing of the break, on Easter weekend, only made things worse. Gunderson said that four workers were on call and able to respond to the break, but that, because of the holiday, it was hard to find additional help, which would have sped up the repair.

By early Saturday evening, one break in the main had been repaired, and crews were working on another break. Gunderson said that it looked like there might be a third break farther down the road and that the crew would keep working until the job was done. He didn’t know for sure when that would be.

Not having water is bad for business, said Eric Cossett, a floor manager at the Forge and Vine Steakhouse, which wasn’t able to open on Saturday because of the break.

“There’s a loss of income,” he said. “Not being open doesn’t make us look good to our customers. I had to turn away a woman who wanted to go out to lunch for her birthday. Plus, there are employees that stayed here to work and didn’t go home for Easter.”