Water, fire officials ready for winter woes, they say
Broken pipes and low pressure are among the problems that can crop up at this time of year.
The city fire and water departments are well prepared to deal with broken water mains and low pressure during cold spells, department officials said Tuesday.
Kingston Fire Chief Mark Brown said the fire department is routinely in touch with Water Department and that water officials notify him quickly when there’s been a break.
“We are in the Northeast, so we are used to it,” Brown said.
If a water main breaks — which has happened several times this winter — firefighters know to use nearby hydrants that are not affected by the damage, he said
That also applies when firefighters discover frozen hydrants, which is not very often, Brown said.
The chief also said the fire department has an engine that can store up to 800 gallons of water.
Water Department Superintendent Judith Hansen said there are 950 hydrants in the city and that her department, like the fire department, is well equipped to deal with water main breaks.
“Water main breaks are a part of life when you operate a water utility,” Hansen said in an email. “The KWD (Kingston Water Department) averages about 15 each year, and most of those occur in the colder months.”
There have been seven water main breaks this month — including three on Lucas Avenue alone — and there were five in December.
“Not all breaks surface immediately and may be leaking for some time before we are alerted,” Hansen wrote. “In many instances, they run directly into the sewer, and we only ‘find’ them when alerted by DPW (Department of Public Works) or by a neighbor that has low pressure.”
Hansen said there have been no widespread reports of low pressure in the city this season.
“Once [a water problem is] identified as a main break, they are repaired,” Hansen wrote. “This is especially true in the colder months as those that surface can create a public safety hazard with road icing . ...
“The exception to that,” she noted, “is if we have multiple breaks identified simultaneously. In that instance, we ‘triage’ them and work our way through the list until all have been repaired.”
In order to repair a water main break, it is necessary to isolate it by “valving” off the area of the break, Hansen said.
“This can result in low pressure or no water for a period of hours until the repair can be made,” she wrote. “It is our standard practice to notify [the fire department] of all outages when they happen. This allows them to institute alternate plans...
“The key is communication,” she added. “We let them know what is happening so that they can alter their response accordingly.”
Hansen described the fire department’s preparation for such events as “pretty robust.”
The superintendent reported these water main breaks since Jan. 2:
Jan. 2: Linderman Avenue, between Hewitt Place and Navara Street.
Jan. 2: Lucas Avenue, between Plymouth Avenue and Emerson Street.
Jan. 6-7: Lucas Avenue, at Dunneman Avenue.
Jan. 10: West Pierpont Street.
Jan. 10: Delaware Avenue, near U.S. Route 9W. Jan. 11: Park Street. Jan. 12: Lucas Avenue, near Dunneman Avenue (about 5 feet from the Jan. 2 break).