Three water line breaks deluge Nahant officials

NAHANT – Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said he suspects a flow test for installing a sprinkler system at the Northeastern University Marine Science Center caused three water line breaks within a 20-minute period midday Friday that left about 100 homes with reduced or no water pressure.”I just saw a wall of water when I was down here working a detail,” said Nahant Police Lt. Thomas Hutton, at the scene of one of the breaks at the intersection of Willow Street and Valley Road.He estimated that the water was about three to four feet high, and a layer of clay, sand and rocks coated Willow Street where the flood had come around the corner. “It just looped around and traveled all the way down ? it’s unheard of, I have never, ever seen three breaks simultaneously.”Resident Patricia Culver sat watching the action from her Valley Road home’s front porch and reported hearing “an incredible bang.”She was without water as the DPW excavated the broken pipe.She said that she wasn’t concerned – like many residents, she had received notification from the town about the delay.”I can handle it,” she said.The Department of Public Works (DPW) reported two other breaks in addition to the break at Willow Street and Valley Road.There was a break at White Way, and also a break at the intersection of Cary Street and Pleasant Street. DPW Superintendent Timothy Lowe estimated about 100 homes were impacted by the three breaks.Cullinan said he suspects the breaks were related to a flow test that was being done for a sprinkler system to be installed at Northeastern University Marine Science Center on East Point.A flow test basically measures water pressure and flow at a site and is required for installing a sprinkler system, Cullinan said.He said it involves the DPW fully opening the nearest hydrant in order to determine the design – for example how many pumps and outlets are needed for a sprinkler system.But when shutting off the water, “the slower you go the better, otherwise it just creates a ‘hammer’ of water driven by intense pressure in the system,” Cullinan noted.Because Northeastern is basically the end of the line for the water system, the pressure that built up was particularly high, Cullinan noted.Cullinan estimated that the work fixing the system would be completed by 8 or 9 p.m. Friday.He said that contractors would assist DPW workers in exposing the broken pipes and fixing the sinkholes that developed as the water pooled up underneath the roads.Cullian joked it was a fitting thing to happen in his last few weeks at the helm of Nahant.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].