Aging pipes blamed on water main breaks

we ask why there have been so many water main breaks in albuquerque this year. this morning... people in the northeast heights couldn’t take showers or flush their toilets as crews cut off water to fix the broken pipe. jeremy jojola is live near eubank and constitution with tonight's big story. water was finally restored this afternoon after this pipe here broke---- and like many of the pipes under our feet in albuquerque---it just wore out.... a problem the water utility authority is trying to keep up with. this morning luis ramirez woke up to that sinking feeling of no water coming into his sink---- thanks to this monster gushing around the corner at eubank and constitution. the pipe broke because of old age---crews cut off water to fix it early this morning ..... and ramirez and his wife had to do with out. "my wife is getting ready to go to work. she hasn't been able to take a shower yet." he got water from the hydrant around the corner that was turned on to divert water from the broken pipe---water to flush his toilet. "it's a pretty big inconvenience because i'm trying to cook, trying to get stuff ready. it's not working out for me today." the water main break had us wondering why they keep happening... we covered ten of them over the past year. "for the most part it's age related. it's just natural wear and tear. man made things eventually fail and break." david morris with the water utility authority tells us many of the pipes date back to the 1950's. and for the past five years.....the utility has been spending a million dollars a year to replace pipes at risk of breaking. he's says there's no increased trend of water main breaks. "over the last few years we've seen a 50 percent reduction in the amount of leaks from steel pipes because of this proactive effort we are making." but of course---with nearly three thousand miles of pipe under albuquerque---it's impossible to prevent every leak and break. the million dollars a year the authority spends to fix...

Channel: ClipSyndicate Video Length: 0s Date Found: Thu, Nov 04 2010 9:28 PM Category: News Date Produced: Thu, Nov 04 2010 7:59 PM View Count: 0