SWAMPSCOTT — The Department of Public Works was called into action Thursday morning after a water main break on Robin Lane.
Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta received a call from the Swampscott Fire Department at approximately 8 a.m., alerting him of the situation.
“I drove over there with my water foremen, and sure enough, I could see the water coming out of the ground, and we knew we had a break there,” Cresta said.
Cresta explained that the street did not freeze over due to the water coming up through cracks of an old gas main trench as opposed to an unabated free flow. In addition, the break occurred within 20 feet of a storm drain.
The DPW staff dug four-feet deep into the ground and applied a foot-long stainless steel wrap to go around the affected pipe area.
“I guess you could say it’s almost like putting a band-aid on it,” Cresta said.
He added that despite the recent cold temperatures, he does not believe weather was the cause of the incident.
“There’s only maybe a couple of inches on the ground,” Cresta said. “The pipe was down four feet.”
The break was repaired, and the water was back on by 12:30 p.m. Cresta asserted that the speed of the repair was not typical for this situation. However, he credited the work of his staff and the break’s location for getting the job done in a timely manner.
“The crew did a great job, but the fact that it was a dead-end street with no traffic… we shut it down and only had to close one gate to get a shutdown,” Cresta said.
