Photo shows water spurting into the air on Shaker Rd. in Westfield Thursday afternoon January 11, 2018 due to a waterline break. (Photo submitted)
WESTFIELD—A portion of Shaker Road was closed for several hours Thursday afternoon following a water line break in the area.
According to Assistant Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW) Fran Cain, the break occurred in an exposed pipe that hangs along the side of the bridge that spans Great Brook just east of where Canal Dr. intersects with Shaker Rd. prompting Westfield Police to close off Shaker Road, from Glenwood Drive to Canal Drive.
“No one should be without water. Some people may notice a momentary loss of pressure or a little bit of sediment may have gotten stirred up, but really shouldn’t be any other issues,” Cain said Thursday afternoon. “The typical customer shouldn’t notice anything at all.”
Cain said that the leak was isolated fairly quickly and the road was reopened after a few hours. He added that there would be a plan put in place Friday regarding repairs.
According to Cain, the section of pipe is over three years old, and is redundantly looped pipe. He said that this means that the pipe could be left off and it would not have an appreciable effect.
“It’s really more of our system’s operation and redundancy,” Cain said.
He added that the pipe was previously off for several years.
Cain said that there is no cause yet as to why the pipe had burst, though the cold weather may have contributed.
Police noted that a detour can be accessed by utilizing Pontoosic Road.
