AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – A water main break in Auburn Hills prompted a State of Emergency and is impacting multiple areas as water supply dwindles.
Great Lakes Water Authority crews are working overtime to fix the issue and made several improvements on Monday.
The ruptured 42-inch waterline serves Auburn Hills, Pontiac, Rochester Hills, Orion Township, Lake Orion and Oakland Township. It broke around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday and crews worked through the day and night to isolate the issue, digging 25 feet below ground to get to the damaged pipe.
“They were able to cut the pipe out and remove it. 3:15 is when I got the note,” GLWA CEO Suzanne Coffey said about the progress made on Monday.
Soon after, crews were welding on the replacement pipe, putting pipe bedding in – along with gravel. They spent the afternoon placing the pipe.
“The next step in the process is they’ve got to go in and actually weld the joints to the existing pipe,” Coffey said.
This is all ahead of schedule. But, just because things are moving along, doesn’t mean there isn’t a long road of testing ahead.
This pipe was installed in 1975 and was supposed to be a 100 year pipe. It’s only been about 50 years.
“A very small percentage of this kind of pike can have a defect in it,” Coffey said. “They called it a ‘manufacturing anomaly’ that creates a condition where it ages more rapidly than it should. But, 96% of the pipe is good. It’s $20 million a mile to replace the pipe.”
As communities in the area battle dwindling water supply, Local 4 has been following the situation in Orion Township. It’s one of the most impacted communities.
Many eyes have been on the area’s water tower, which typically holds about one day’s worth of supply.
“It was at 28.5 – what’s it sitting at now?” Local 4 asked.
“This morning when we came in, it was over 30, which is good because you know when people are sleeping they aren’t using water all night,” Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett said. “But, then, this morning we saw the water levels start to drop. We were able to get the water up a bit again. This is our main feed.”
Another impacted area is Rochester Hills.
“At first when it broke, we were in the teens,” Nathan Mueller, the chief of communications for the City of Rochester Hills, said. “When the restrictions went into place, we saw that jump up. It kicked our booster station on which kicked the PSI, so it’s pushing water up to the north end, especially our neighbors in Oakland Township that we service for water.”