After spending much of last week trying to fix a major water leak that prompted a boil water notice, the bad luck continued for City of Bruce employees Monday morning when they arrived to City Hall to discover it had been flooded.
Bruce Mayor Rudy Pope
Problems with the exterior toilets at City Hall caused them to back up and flood the office over the weekend. Mayor Rudy Pope said they will have to replace all the flooring in the office portion of the building.
That news came on the heels of a busy week as town workers repaired a major water line break in the middle of the Hwys. 9-32 intersection, with some of that work still ongoing this week.
A break in the old 4-inch line proved difficult to repair because the only possible cutoff was directly below the stop light in the middle of the intersection.
“We couldn’t get out there and dig all that up,” Mayor Pope said. “It’s been paved over so many times over the years. The asphalt was several feet thick. We couldn’t get through where the leak was with a back hoe. We had to go rent a jack hammer.”
Mayor Pope said the city had nothing to fit the old pipe so everything had to be modified, including a cutoff in case they need to access it again.
“We put a cutoff on it during the repair and we try to do that wherever we can when we have these situations, but those are $350-$400 each,” Mayor Pope said.
Ultimately, to make the repair, the only option was to shut off the water at the wells which forced a boil water notice to be enacted once it was complete. Mayor Pope drove the samples to Jackson every day to expedite the lifting of the notice.
“We hated to cut off all the water but it was the only option at that point to make the repair,” Mayor Pope said. “Boil water notices aren’t fun for anybody, but when it’s required we’re going to adhere to the law.”