Official seeks probe of water main break
Crew repairs damage to Anderson Road
GREENWICH — As crew worked to repair Anderson Road after a water main break, a state official called on Tuesday for an investigation into Aquarion and how two major breaks occurred in a year on the same line in central Greenwich.
A section of the roadway buckled Monday morning after a 16-inch water main ruptured and sent thousands of gallons spilling into the residential area, damaging a home and its property on Anderson Road, Aquarion water company spokesman Peter
Fazekas said.
Acting Consumer Counsel Richard E. Sobolewski issued a call for further investigation into the flooding.
“All Aquarion customers are entitled to reliable and uninterrupted water service,” Sobolewski said in a statement. “Simply put, Aquarion’s recent water main failures in Greenwich are unacceptable and rendered even more so by the fact that the resultant flooding has caused tens of thousands of dollars in damages to residential property and municipal infrastructure.”
Sobolewski filed a petition with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority requesting an investigation into Aquarion over the water main breaks “that resulted in the catastrophic flooding” of residential properties in Greenwich.
“On April 12, 2021 — for the second time in less than a year — water mains associated with an Aquarion
substation in Greenwich ruptured and catastrophically flooded nearby properties and interrupted water service to many consumers. The flooding also washed out municipal roads, resulting in an emergency response vehicle becoming stranded,” said a statement from his office.
State Rep. Stephen Meskers, D-150, said he wanted more information on how two major water breaks could have occurred in the same neighborhood in less than a year — this week and in May 2020.
Meskers, who visited the scene Monday, was dismayed the amount of flooding on Anderson Road.
“There’s a structural problem here,” he said. “This is like an industrial accident taking place in a residential neighborhood.”
Aquarion should “take responsibility for thousands of gallons of water coming onto my constituent’s home and property,” Meskers said.
The impacted roadway was buttressed with new fill, and repaving will be done in coming days, Fazekas said. The work will be carried out and
paid for by Aquarion, he said. And the broken pipe will be taken out of service.
The water company was already planning to take the damaged pipe permanently out of service, Fazekas said.
Another water-main break took place in the same area of Anderson Road last May. Fazekas said the rupture this week was unrelated to the earlier break, other than that it was “an older main.” The water company upgraded the pump station in 2017, but Fazekas said the recent problem was not related to the pump station.
A home on Anderson Road was damaged by flooding after the watermain break occurred. Aquarion was in discussions with the homeowner, Fazekas said, and the Aquarion claims department was handling it.
The break, between East Elm Street and Mallard Drive, was reported shortly after 6 a.m. Monday. Service was restored to all customers by that afternoon.