Waterline break a pain in Ogden

OGDEN — City public works officials say it may take until this morning until they can restore water to thousands of Ogden residents after a huge break in a primary water main near the mouth of Ogden Canyon required emergency repair.

George Benford, Ogden city's public works director, said they had expected to have water restored by Friday evening but now expect water to be restored Saturday morning.

A break in the 36-inch water main was found about noon Thursday, near an artificial waterfall a few hundred yards east of Rainbow Gardens. It created a large geyser.

"I've never seen one this bad," Benford said, citing his 20 years' experience with Ogden's water system.

The massive leak meant water service was out from 12th Street to the north city limits, east of Monroe Boulevard. The outage affected up to one-third of the city.

Benford said as many as 100 city employees have been involved in the repair effort and related work.

He said crews tried to weld the break during the night, but the pipe cracked more and would not hold. Parts finally had to be ordered to rebuild the pipe, as well as a concrete valve. The parts were to arrive sometime Friday afternoon. One of the necessary parts had to be manufactured by a local welder, since it wasn't available commercially.

The pipe carries drinking water from six artesian wells north of Pineview Reservoir, about seven miles down Ogden Canyon.

A large amount of excavating and cement cutting were part of the repair project. The pipe also had to be drained.

What caused the break?

"It's hard to say," Benford said. He suspects unusually cold temperatures caused a small shift in the ground and that's probably all it took.

Four schools were shut down Friday, including Ben Lomond High School, Horace Mann Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary and the School for the Deaf and Blind.

Officials said there was no running water or heat in those schools, which affects restrooms, drinking fountains, boilers and the cold-water refrigeration system.

Fortunately, the outage didn't affect the downtown area or many businesses would have had to close as well. However, the outage still forced some business enterprises to close and lose customers.

For example, the Greenery Restaurant at Rainbow Gardens closed Thursday night and Friday. It had very low water pressure — not enough to operate a restaurant. It was uncertain if it could open Friday evening.

The Red Cross was stationed at Horace Mann Elementary with bottled water. Other water was available for filling jugs at Hillcrest Elementary and at the LDS Church parking lot at 3rd Street and Tyler Avenue.

Shower facilities were available for residents at Gold's Gym, the Marshall White Center, Highland Middle School and Mound Fort Middle School.

Residents were encouraged to fill their bathtubs with snow and use the melted snow for flushing toilets.

---

E-mail: lynn@desnews.com