Water line repair under way

Water service should be restored for the American Legion vets' club and residential subdivisions off Cumulus Avenue in McMinnville, by early evening, if all goes well, Water & Light Water Superintendent Bob Klein said Thursday.

A break in a water line cut service to the club and two subdivisions Thursday afternoon.

Klein said crews were on site excavating the pipe to make repairs.

“It, now looks like a five foot piece blew out the side, so we've gotta section in a new piece,” he said.

The 12-inch line is an older cast iron line, which is more brittle than ductile iron, he said.

“It must have had a little crack in it for some reason,” he said. “Once you get a breach in it, then the pressure of the water” will break the pipe. “Ninety percent of the time, it's gonna crack in the circumference, and there's a special repair bands you can use,” he said.

This time, however, the pipe did not cooperate. So the repair crew will have to cut out the damaged piece, install a new one and tighten special fittings over it to snug it into place, and then flush out the line before it can resume water service, Klein said.