Water main in Northern Liberties is repaired

NORTHERN LIBERTIES (WTXF) - It was a major mess in Northern Liberties after a water main burst and sent water spewing out onto the street.

It happened on Girard near Front Street. Several businesses and residents have spent time dealing with no water, because of the water main break, and no electricity as water crews work to fix the break.

There is never a good time for a water main to break. But, it did break on a busy Saturday morning for a restaurant, nail salon and a few other places along Girard Avenue in Fishtown, December 23.

A 12-inch water main broke, gushing water everywhere and into the basements of a number of buildings near Front Street.

"We found several properties with water in the cellar so each property on the street has some water in their basement," said John DiGiulio, with the Philadelphia Water department.

Some worse than others. But, Philadelphia water crews arrived quickly and started the process of pumping out all that water, while other workers break up the blacktop to reach the water main below.

"I saw water everywhere in my basement, at least three meters," said Demetrious Koeskors, a resident whose basement flooded.

The city has 3200 miles of shared water mains, many of them dating back to the 1800's. While the city works to replace miles of pipe each year, breaks occur routinely.

"Unfortunately, every water main break is unique. I don't know what caused this one to take place. We are in the winter season, so the colder the temperatures the water, sometimes you see a higher frequency of the water main breaks,"

They don't know how the break happened, but they had it repaired by Saturday evening.