SOUTHWICK – On Wednesday afternoon, a water break occurred near Ray’s Farm on College Highway. According to DPW Director Randy Brown, water in that area was shut off for about two hours and was repaired and restored after 3:30 p.m. DPW workers found the location of the leak, took the pipeline out of service and put a repair clamp on the pipeline.
“There was a crack in the pipe which caused the issue,” said Brown.
This isn’t the first water break recently in Southwick. Brown noted that another occurred earlier this winter on College Hwy on the same pipeline that broke on Wednesday in a different location.
Southwick DPW Director Randy Brown. (WNG File Photo)
While Brown did say that the cold weather can always be a legitimate threat to pipelines, regardless of what the exact cause is to the pipelines breaking, it’s been an issue on College Hwy.
At the last annual town meeting, Brown brought forth a warrant article to the voting residents, which was passed by the town, involving a College Hwy water main project. Worth approximately $3.2 million, it will consist of a new pipeline being installed on College Hwy with the money for the project coming from town appropriated funds. Design efforts for that project are currently underway.
Brown mentioned that the warranties on pipelines suggest that they can last anywhere from 50 to 100 years. Although Brown isn’t sure exactly how old the current pipeline is on College Hwy, he believes it’s been there at least since the 1940’s.
Brown added that the pipeline on College Hwy is a critical line and needs to be upgraded.“It serves as our main back up supply with Springfield water and sewer,” said Brown.
