Just when it is time to relax and enjoy an extended weekend, an unfortunate homeowner in NYC ended up pumping water from their basement throughout Friday evening. Luckily for this homeowner, she had worked with Harris Water Main & Sewer Contractors a few years prior when her sewer line had to be replaced and knew who to call.
Harris had an estimator on site the same night as the catastrophe and dispatched a crew the very next morning to replace her leaking water main.
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It turned out that that the existing 4” water main broke in the roadway near the curb and was leaking back into her basement. The only way to stop the leak was for the crew to jackhammer the roadway and dig down to the city main where the wet connection shut off valve was located.
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Like many other buildings in NYC, this building did not have a curb valve to attempt and control the water and potentially stop the leak. Under the current DEP code, all water lines of this size are required to have a curb valve installed and inspected by the DEP.
Now that the water was turned off the crew used a backhoe to assist in removing water from the excavation in preparation for the new water line installation .
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The water line installation was completed late in the evening the same night the crew began working however, we could not close the roadway until we obtained DEP permits and scheduled an inspection.
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In most cases we coordinate permits and inspections to be completed while working on site, in emergency scenarios like this, we do not have the luxury and end up returning to the work site at a later date to obtain inspections and backfill the roadway.
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Most important, we were able to satisfy our customer with an emergency situation and avoid any permanent damage to her finished basement.
