Water Main Repairs in Berkeley, Emeryville Wrapping Up

BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) officials expected water line repairs in Emeryville and Berkeley to be completed late Thursday afternoon after the lines suffered multiple breaks the evening before.

The water main breaks affected about 300 customers, according to EBMUD spokesman Christopher Tritto. 

The first call call about the water break came early in the evening Wednesday. It didn't take long before more than a dozen water mains were reported broken in Oakland, Emeryville and Albany, but mainly Berkeley. By midnight there were 15 pipes pouring water into neighborhoods. EBMUD crews scrambled to tackle the mess, which was so bad it they called for additional crews.

One of the ruptures was in front of Chadi Depelchin's house in Berkeley and it flooded his home.

"This was just a river right here," Depelchin said.

Half mile away at another break, Jessica Groopman escaped flooding but spent the night without water.

"I heard the toilet starting to bubble so I think it's slowly returning now," Groopman.

READ: EBMUD Crew Over-Pressurizes Water Line; Rupture 100-Year-Old Pipes In Emeryville, West Berkeley

Tritto said the utility is repairing breaks at about 15 sites across the two cities, some of which have already been completed or are close to completion. 

"We hope to have everything wrapped up" around 5 p.m., Tritto said.

EBMUD says the problem may have been human error.

"We think that what occurred was that a valve was opened too quickly or something causing a pressure surge," EBMUD spokesperson Andrea Pook said.

EBMUD says all the pipes that ruptured were brittle and nearly 100 years old. One broken pipe had a hole punched out from the over pressure.

EBMUD manages more than 4,200 miles of water mains and smaller pipelines in the East Bay. They replace 17 miles of old pipe every year. 

Utility customers can find updates about the outage at EBMUD's alert page. Customers can also call (866) 403-2683 to report problems or obtain information.

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