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Duke Officials Hope for Water Fix Later Today
By Tom Leturgey
The Tube City Almanac
December 21, 2023
Posted in: Duquesne News
(Tom Leturgey photo)
City of Duquesne residents could have their water service back to normal by this evening (Dec. 21). That’s the hope of officials who are working with public works employees to fix two water main breaks. Water pressure has been limited to some homes in the city since Wednesday night.
“We have two breaks currently that we are aware of, one at Center Street and one is on Oak Street,” City Councilman Aaron R. Adams, water department chair, said in an email Thursday morning. Because of the water loss, he said, levels in the city’s reservoir dropped, causing more water outages across the city.
At noon on Thursday, water was still running down the bottom, brick part of Crawford Avenue. Meanwhile, City Manager Douglas Sample was on hand with city workers in heavy equipment as they dug up the water line at the corner of Oak and Center streets.
“The break lowered water from the reservoir to about half the city,” said Sample. “That’s when the boil water advisory kicked in.”
Adams continued in his email, “We have crews out fixing the repairs and have contacted another company to come and help with emergency repairs. We are pumping water into the standpipe and the reservoir to get water supplies back to operation and alternate routing of water should become available.
“We have contacted our water supplier about the incidents and have fresh potable water in tanks at City Hall, Oak Street and Center Street/Orchard Court. We have also contacted the DEP as a part of our emergency response plan. Our next steps are contacting media outlets and issuing a boil water advisory because our reservoir was emptied. Issuing that advisory is a requirement through the DEP. I will be working through submitting all necessary paperwork to the DEP and issuing any public notices that are required. We are hoping that the repairs will be completed this afternoon, and will be back to normal operation shortly.”
Workers from Advanced Rehabilitation Technology are repairing sewer lines at the top of Center and Crawford and limiting traffic in that area. The work is not connected to the emergency water line repairs.
Sample noted that if all goes well, residents could have regular water pressure back by 6 p.m. Thursday.
Originally published December 21, 2023.
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