Water main breaks on Jelly Street, town crews working to fix the issue

Written By PETER RICHARDSON

Less than two weeks after the point was brought up, at the Public Draft Budget Meeting, one of the potential infrastructure problems discussed reared it's ugly head on Tuesday evening (Feb. 27). 

At approximately 10 p.m. one of the Town water mains broke on Jelly Street, just north of Simon Street. According to Jim Moss, Director of Development and Operations for the Town, Staff reduced the water pressure in the line and waited until morning to deal with the repair, once Public Works staff were available.

Jim and a crew were on site Wednesday morning (Feb. 27), to assess the risks and establish a plan of action. 

Within a short time, a high hoe excavator was scooping water from the existing hole, while decisions were made how best to proceed with excavating the break. Fortunately, the water was able to run off, along the curb to the storm sewers, which confined the problem to, primarily the edge of the street.

 The Town's water management contractor, Avertex, supplied a unique piece of equipment, called an Axis Laser Guided Boring System, which is basically a huge vacuum with a water jet nozzle. The machine can more precisely excavate close to the water main, while removing the waste water.

Before excavation could begin, staff had to wait for all the appropriate underground cables to be located, but Jim stated that, barring something totally unforeseen and unexpected, the main should be repaired by the end of the working week. 

As of press time, the water was still on reduced pressure and no homes were without water service as yet. Mr. Moss said that unless the break was much larger than expected, this should remain the case throughout the repair procedure. 

At this time, he is hoping a sleeve-type bandage will fix the leak for now. Nevertheless, this only goes to reinforce Mayor Wade Mills's statement that the $20 million dollars in capital projects mentioned in the budget are not a wish list, but are in fact a must do list that Shelburne faces in the next four years,