A homeowner in Brooklyn contacted her plumber on Wednesday afternoon after she started to notice a stream of water on her sidewalk. The plumber advised her to contact DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) to determine where the water was coming from, and what the next step was to curing the problem.
Water main leaking on sidewalk
DEP arrived at the house within 10 hours and determined that it was the homeowners lead water line that had been leaking. She was issued a “3 day notice” stating that she had three days to have the water line replaced. Unfortunately the homeowner was in denial and decided to ignore the 3 day notice. Her rational was that she had not experienced a loss in water pressure, and for this reason it could not have been her water main that was leaking.
DEP shuts the water off
As a result of her failure to comply with DEP, the homeowner’s water main was turned off in the roadway and now had to be replaced by a water main and sewer contractor.
The contractor began the water main installation by opening the roadway on the “long side” of the street and had to prepare roadway tunnels for the new copper pipe installation. The contractor was working on a busy road in Brooklyn which required a flagman on site to navigate traffic.
Making tunnels |
Flagging for safety! |
After all of the excavation and tunnels were completed, the new pipe was pulled from one tunnel to the next and finally into the house. The pipe was now connected to the tap on the city main and the existing house piping inside the house.
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The pipe is installed |
The roadway connection |
The total installation was completed within six hours. Unfortunately the homeowner incurred not only the cost of the water line replacement, but now had to pay a $1000 fee to the DEP for when they turned off her water in the roadway.
