Wasatch Front sees four large-scale water leaks within matter of days

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Public works crews have had a busy few days responding to large-scale water leaks across the Wasatch Front. The most recent cities impacted: Hollady, American fork, Centerville and Provo.   

On Tuesday, three homes were damaged from a mudslide caused by a broken water meter owned by Salt Lake City. Crews spent Wednesday cleaning up the mess.  

Jason Draper, Chief Engineer of SLC Public Utilities told ABC4, “They’re (the meters) subject to open air and corrosion and everything else and much closer to the surface than the water mains so their service life is much shorter.”  

Had this happened in a flat area, Draper said the damage likely would have been secluded to the road. “Unfortunately, in this case, we’re on such a steep hill side that it drained out at the bottom and continued to drain out the bottom and saturate the hillside and eventually that water was enough to release that soil and down the hillside.”  

Draper told ABC4 that the city is working with the homeowners to repair any damage. “We’ll be replacing landscaping and retaining walls and anything else that was impacted by this,” he added.  

Around the same time Tuesday, an irrigation pipe cracked in American Fork, flooding the streets.

“Right now, our crews are finishing up removing the section of the line that was cracked, putting in a new section and putting sleeves on to tie it back up,” Assistant City Administrator Camden Bird told ABC4.   

Bird said drinking water was not affected. “We were able to get it repaired. A main line that is 24 inches in basically 24 hours is quite an accomplishment our public works was able to do.” 

Bird said the city doesn’t have any confirmed cases of damage that have been reported but is continuing to assess the area for potential issues.  

The road is expected to be opened to traffic by the end of Wednesday. However, it will not be repaved until a later date.  

On Monday, a water main break caused major damage to Main Street in Centerville.

“It’s an older PVC pipe, about 40 years old,” explained Dep. Public Works Director Dave Walker. “Sometimes they have a defect that just finally shows itself 40 years later, there could be movement in the earth from the temperature fluctuation, the hot to cold we’ll see a lot of shifts, sometimes. Unfortunately, these are the results of that.”    

The intersection of Main Street and Carrington Lane remains closed to traffic. The city hasn’t given a timetable for when it will reopen.  

On Saturday, another water main break created a geyser in Provo. The geyser shot rock and debris into the air, damaging more than a dozen cars and businesses nearby.   

“[I] opened the doors and water came out,” stated Grace Redington. “So much water.” 

Redington was in Provo for a cheer camp. When she walked outside, she saw the geyser. Her car was one of those damaged in its wake. “The whole top of my car kind of shattered and there’s a lot of glass in my car.”