WATER MAIN, from page 1 Water main erupts
By Daily Press staff
OCEAN PARK — An 80-year-old water main broke Thursday at Fifth Street and Ocean Park Boulevard, leaving a dozen homes without water for about eight hours, a city official said. The road is expected to remain closed until this afternoon.
The water main, constructed in 1925, burst before noon, splitting open the pavement above the cast-iron pipe. The pressure from the water forced the asphalt to break, leaving a hole about 20 feet by 20 feet.
Ocean Park Boulevard between Fourth and Sixth streets will be closed while crews patch the area.
The pipe was re-lined in 1965 and it’s unknown what caused it to break, said Gil Borboa, the city’s utilities manager.
Ocean Park Boulevard has been the site of a lot of road repair over the past year. When a 1,000-foot-long stretch of roadway collapsed in January, it took two months and $1 million to repair the street. The sinkhole at the intersection of Ocean Park Boulevard and Euclid Street gave way, sinking approximately 15 feet deep. Two days later, another section of Ocean Park Boulevard — near the intersection of 11th Street — also collapsed.
Officials believe the sand beneath the street was rapidly eroding when a 12-inch wide high-pressure water main erupted, releasing about 1.5 million gallons of water before it was ultimately contained.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 12, 2003. Read the original PDF.