Water is cool and refreshing and it’s particularly in big demand when the temperatures are approaching 90, as they are now. 

However, this weekend, High Point city staff, water customers and commuters weren’t happy at all to see H2O spewing out of a section of broken water pipe and shutting down part of a major thoroughfare.

On Sunday, June 13 at about 9:30 a.m., a water line break at the 1900 block of Eastchester Drive closed down a section of the road, and, to add insult to injury, it took away water services to some High Point residents until late Sunday night.

The City of High Point Water and Sewer Mains Division came to the rescue and eventually closed water valves in order to isolate the break.

Just over 130 customers were without water for much of Sunday due to the accident.

This is the second big water incident for the city in the last two weeks. In late May, many residents in the Sandy Ridge Road area were being asked to boil their water before using it due to contamination concerns.

According to a press release sent out by the city on Monday, June 14, after this weekend’s break, the City of High Point used an on-call utility contractor to repair the water main.

The break proved to be a recalcitrant one.  The city reported that the amount of time it took to make the repair was increased by the difficulty of determining the location of the break and the fact that it occurred at “significant depth of the asphalt” under Eastchester Drive.

The contractor who responded had to dig in multiple places just to find the point of the break in order to make the repairs.  As part of the repair process, the work crew identified and replaced a 10-foot section of “longitudinally cracked” cast iron pipe that was laid in 1968.

By late Sunday night, water was turned back on and contractors worked through the night to repair Eastchester Drive.

By Monday morning, all lanes of traffic on Eastchester were open.

Citizens can contact the City of High Point on the customer service line at 336-883-3111 if they continue to notice a discoloration in their water. 

The water is safe to drink, according to city officials.

 

 

 

 

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