More water main breaks possible in the Miami Valley when temperatures rise

TROTWOOD — The bitter cold and frozen ground are causing water main breaks.

A large pipe burst Wednesday morning on West Third Street right at State Route 49 known as the Trotwood connector.

It’s a huge and very busy intersection, and right around the morning rush it became filled with water that turned to ice.

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The water main break was fixed, repaired and patched, a pattern that we will see repeated a lot over the next several months.

“This one was a 12 inch water main, which is pretty big and it did cause some problems this morning,” said Megan O’Leary, spokesperson for Montgomery County Environmental Services.

Montgomery County Environmental Services crews got there right away.

“What happens is we get out here, we start turning valves, to isolate the breaks, so water is no longer flowing,” O’Leary said. “But this is what we do, we all train for it, our guys know what to do when they get here.”

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The unusual news in the water main break, especially for a larger size pipe, is that no customers lost their water service.

Crews managed to isolate the problem and direct flow around it, allowing homes and businesses in the area to stay on track.

That allowed workers to bring in rocks and dirt to refill the crater around the repaired pipe.

Crews say it’s important for drivers to avoid any areas where they see bubbling water, the roadway could easily give way.

It’s also important to realize that when the temperature rises in a few days, more water main breaks will likely happen.

“The ground freezes, then thaws, freezes, then thaws, that does cause water main breaks,” O’Leary said.

Montgomery County crews said this was far from the only water main break they were dealing with today. Those breaks happen with up and down temperatures or with simple extended cold spells as the ground freezes down to the pipe level, causing shifting.

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