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Lawrence utility describes 16-inch main break, council presses for better citywide alerts
Summary
A 16-inch water main break early March 15 caused system pressure drops and a precautionary boil advisory; the utility described the incident to the Common Council and councilors pressed for improved mass-notification procedures.
A 16-inch water main break at the 50 Ninth Street Water Treatment Plant early in the morning forced the City of Lawrence utility to throttle flow, call in staff and issue a precautionary boil-water advisory while tests were completed, utility officials told the Common Council on March 19.
Councilor Wells, a longtime Lawrence resident, told the council he received many constituent complaints about slow or incomplete notification during the event and asked the administration and Lawrence Utilities to improve outreach. Paul Warner, Director of Utilities, said staff were alerted at 12:45 a.m., had 15 employees called in by about 1:00 a.m., located the break at the 50 Ninth Street plant and isolated the line within an hour.
Warner said the broken line was a 16-inch main “straight out of the plant” and that system pressure fell below the 20 PSI threshold that requires a precautionary advisory. “Because the pressure went down below 20 PSI, it’s required to issue an advisory just for the extra precaution to make sure everybody’s safe,” Warner said. He told the council the utility kept positive pressure on the rest of the system while the break was isolated and that lab tests came back negative, allowing the advisory to be lifted.
Councilor Wells and others pressed the utility on why many residents did not receive timely notices. Warner said the utility uses its account contact information and a mass-notification system that depends on residents providing an email or phone number; he said staff will review whether outreach can be improved. “If residents are willing to provide them, yes,” Warner said when asked if the utility could collect contact information tied to accounts.
Councilors also discussed the rarity of a citywide event: Wells said in his roughly 60 years in Lawrence he had not seen a break that affected the entire system. Warner said the pipe that failed was part of the older system (over 20 years old), not a newly installed line. Councilors did not vote on any action arising from the presentation; the discussion concluded with members asking the administration to report back on possible notification improvements.
The council heard the utility description and follow-up questions during its March 19 meeting.
