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NEWS
Temps, age likely causes of main break
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HUNTINGTON -- Company officials believe aging infrastructure and changing temperatures caused a water main to break last weekend in Huntington.
Kelley Gillenwater, spokeswoman for West Virginia American Water, said the district's supervisor had not determined an official cause Wednesday. She speculated changes in temperature may be the culprit. The broken transmission main was about 70 years old. The 20-inch pipe was cast iron with a thin cement lining on the inside.
Huntington's high temperatures ranged from 85 to 90 degrees in the week leading up to the June 26 incident. Low temperatures ranged from 61 to 75, according to the National Weather Service.
Gillenwater said she recognized extreme temperature shifts are not as common in the summer. She explained temperature changes over time cause the metal to expand and contract, thus weakening the main.
"It doesn't take much," she said. "It just wears out and breaks sometimes."
Gillenwater said there is no indication anything other than weather caused last week's break, unlike a construction incident that broke a major water main in January 2008. That incident spurred a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
West Virginia American Water estimated the June 26 incident affected 48,000 people or 35,000 customers. A subsequent boil water advisory was lifted June 28.
Gillenwater said aging infrastructure is a nationwide problem with some transmission lines more than 100 years old. She said her company tries to replace mains and pipes when financially possible.
"Obviously we can't replace every main, every piece of pipe in the state," she said.
Gillenwater estimates her company has more than 2,500 miles of pipe in West Virginia.
