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Date: 9/20/2023
SPRINGFIELD — Necessary work to stabilize and rehabilitate the site of a major water main break that caused service disruptions throughout the city and surrounding communities will “take some time and a lot of money,” according to Springfield DPW Director Chris Cignoli.
On Sept. 12, a 36-inch water main located in a wooded area behind the Big Y supermarket on St. James Avenue in East Springfield ruptured, the result of recent heavy rains destabilizing the area surrounding the pipe, according to city and Springfield Water and Sewer Commission officials.
Uncertainty surrounding contamination in the wake of the break prompted the commission to issue a boil order and Springfield Public Schools as well as senior centers were closed on Sept. 13. Mayor Domenic Sarno also declared a state of emergency in the city. After two rounds of testing showed no bacteria in the water, the boil order was lifted shortly after 5 a.m. on Sept. 14, allowing for regular water use to resume.
But the work in the aftermath of the break is just getting started. Speaking at a press conference at City Hall on Sept. 13, Cignoli said the area in the vicinity of Abbey Brook behind the Big Y Plaza will need to be overhauled entirely before a new main can be installed.
Sarno said the declaration of a state of emergency was designed to assist the city with the financial hardships associated with the recovery effort.
“This is to avail ourselves to infrastructure and repair money,” Sarno said. “It’s a big job. It’s going to cost millions of dollars.”
Springfield Water and Sewer Commission Executive Director Joshua Schimmel and Cignoli both said the most likely reason for the water main’s repture was a failure of the drainage system through which Abbey Brook runs under the main. With recent heavy rains, specifically those on the afternoon of Sept. 11 that saw a local rain gauges registering nearly 4 inches of rain in the course of less than two hours — the culvert through which the brook runs became plugged, creating a pond. Once the water surpassed the top of the main, the pressure blew out the earthen dam and culvert, resulting in the main breaking.
The high pressure water main itself was approximately 70 years old, according to Schimmel.
“In our discussions with Water and Sewer, from a water main perspective, everything is stable out there, however the area will need to be completely rebuilt. We’re talking probably 5, 6, 700 feet of a stream channel culvert system,” he said, going on to explain that the drainage system was located 10 feet below the water main, which was buried 6 feet below the surface.
“That work will take some time. We will have to stabilize the area and we will then have to start making the necessary repairs out there,” Cignoli said. “So, from our perspective, the drainage swale, the drainage system will have to be rebuilt and as that starts to come back up, the water main can be put back in.”
Cignoli and Schimmel said with water shut off at the site of the break, citywide water service remains stable and DPW crews will be able to work as quickly as possible.
In explaining potential funding sources opened by the emergency declaration, Sarno specifically cited “a fund, statewide, to deal with all the devastation that has occurred with flooding and rain activity.”
On Sept. 12, Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency in response to flooding throughout the state, including roughly 10 inches of rain in Worcester and Bristol counties. Healey spent time in North Attleboro and Leominster to survey damage and Sarno said Healey had been in touch with him as well.
When asked for more specific information, Sarno administration Communication Director Bill Baker told Reminder Publishing, “The declaration of emergency Gov. Healey issued will help facilitate the state’s efforts to respond to an emergency, including expediting the use of state resources and access to federal and interstate resources and assistance. Mayor Sarno has every intention to utilize the state and his declaration of emergency to avail the city to go after any and all available funding sources.”
Reminder Publishing also reached out to the Healey-Driscoll administration but did not receive a response as of press time.
When asked for more specific estimates on the cost of the repairs, Water and Sewer Commission Communications Manager Jayme Bartak said the city and the commission were both still in the assessment stage and there were no estimates for either the culvert repair or water main replacement as of press time.
Schimmel cited supply chain issues as a potential obstacle in the recovery process in a press briefing with the mayor on Sept. 12. During the Sept. 13 press update, Reminder Publishing asked if the city’s emergency declaration would facilitate procurement of materials. Schimmel said, “I think it’s important to understand that supply chain issues are real and some materials are difficult to find. This is not a unique main, but there’s not a lot of 36-inch water mains out there. One of the things that we’ve already started to do is contact other utilities that might use similar mains and at times we will borrow from another utility and then repay them with another item that comes in to replace it.” He added that there will likely be time to procure what is needed, given the amount of work the DPW must complete before the main can be replaced.
On the city’s end, Cignoli said the majority of the raw materials needed to begin the work such a sandstone, fill and gravel are readily available, but drainage systems are another matter. He said the DPW will review what is available versus what is needed and can be flexible.
“If it’s a 42-inch pipe and somebody has 48-inch pipe available, then we’ll put in 48-inch pipe,” he said, adding the procurement of drainage materials take place as site work continues. “I’m not going to say that I’m not worried about it, but I think that with the materials that are available, we’ll be able to get the system back together.”
The public has been advised to stay away from the area as it is unstable and trespassing could further slow the work or, worse, create a public safety issue.
The Springfield Water and Sewer Commission services approximately 250,000 people, including retail customers in Springfield and Ludlow while providing wholesale drinking water to Agawam, East Longmeadow and Longmeadow.
The commission first noticed a problem with the water system on Sept. 12 shortly before 3:30 p.m. when the control room saw a spike in usage from 3 million gallons per day to 60 million gallons per day, “which is indicative of a large break,” Schimmel said. Shortly thereafter, the commission began receiving thousands of complaints about decreased water pressure, overwhelming its phone system.
While the commission mobilized crews and even drones to locate the problem, it was a resident who brought the site of the break, sheltered by trees, to the attention of the city and the commission. Within 30 minutes of locating the break, the outflow was shut down. In the meantime, however, between five and 10 million gallons of treated water were lost.
Approximately six hours later, the Water and Sewer Commission, in consultation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, issued an advisory, warning retail customers in Springfield and Ludlow not to drink the water without first boiling it or opt for bottled water as a precaution. At the press conference that night, Schimmel explained the drop in water pressure to below 20 pounds per square inch in some areas prompted the commission to notify MassDEP because that kind of drop in pressure can draw potential contaminants into the water.
Schimmel stressed that treatment of water provided to the city and surrounding wholesale customers was not interrupted. Additionally, water pressure levels were not affected in wholesale communities. On the morning of Sept. 14, the commission reported that two consecutive water sample tests revealed no bacteria.
As officials awaited test results, however, Springfield schools were closed and activities at the city’s senior centers were suspended on Sept. 13 before resuming the following day. Ludlow Public Schools remained open but families were advised to equip their children with enough boiled or bottled water for the day.
The city used its senior centers and the Rebecca Johnson School cafeteria as distribution points for pallets of bottled water procured by the city. Fire Department District Chief Tyrone Denson, the city’s emergency management director, credited Big Y and Performance Food Group for donating water for distribution, which Health and Human Services Director Helen Caulton-Harris stressed was intended to help Springfield residents with specific needs — including those with infants, other abled individuals, those with medical conditions and those without the ability to boil water or access bottled water.
During and after the situation, the timing and communication of the boil order has been criticized by some members of the public. City officials on Sept. 13 said notices were sent out through the city’s reverse-911 system. Additionally, Bartak said the commission issued an alert to customers via contact information provided through its billing system. The commission also issued a press release and posted the information on its social media channels.
However, customers reported to Reminder Publishing and turned to social media to reflect that they did not receive notification until a regionwide alert went out at approximately 11 p.m. on Sept. 12.
Denson explained that the city’s system is an opt-in network and only residents who registered on the city’s website received notification. When asked if the commission had received complaints or if its notification system had failed, Bartak reiterated, “Our Reverse 911 system contacts all of the customers in our system via phone or text. For customers that do not have a current phone number or email on file with us, we try to reach them through social media, traditional media (TV/print/press conference), and our website.”
The regional alert was seen by both customers and those who do not get their water from the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission, prompting some public confusion regarding to whom the boil order applied. Schimmel acknowledged the confusion and explained that notification was sent out by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, given the regional social and economic impact Springfield represents.
“Springfield is the center of commerce in Western Massachusetts, so people come into Springfield daily for business, for entertainment, for any variety of things and I think MEMA’s intent on that broader notification was for folks who were coming into Springfield,” he said, adding it prompted non-customers to be aware of the need to drink bottled water or consult with their employers or destinations on their status.
Addressing timing of the decision to issue a boil order, Schimmel said, “It takes some time to do that. It takes getting information from the field, it takes getting information from other communities as well to make those types of decisions. These affect businesses, residents, hospitals, schools, so, as you all know, water is central to everybody’s daily life and making these decisions is critically important … You can’t make those decisions irrationally. They have to be thoughtful every step of the say and that’s what we did, so we’re very comfortable with that.”
Sarno also stressed that issuing an unnecessary order without performing due diligence could create a “cry wolf” situation that the city and the commission wished to avoid.