Broken Ishpeming water main repaired

A broken water main in the City of Ishpeming has been repaired.

Ishpeming’s Department of Public Works received a call from police officers shortly after 3:00 a.m., who reported seeing water pouring down the streets from the intersection of Oak and Ely.

Officials from the Department of Public Works responded to the scene and quickly determined what valves to shut off.

“The hills are hard to shut off. We had to shut off fourteen valves to stop the water. Once the water was off, it was no problem. The hardest part is getting the water off. A lot of the valves are old, and in the winter it’s hard to turn them. Sometimes it takes two guys with pipes to turn them off. Once the water stopped bubbling, we started digging,” noted Public Works Foreman Carl Petersen.

Once they were able to dig down to the root of the problem, they sealed the pipe with a stainless steel clamp that wraps around the line before being bolted into place.

Petersen says they never lost pressure in the pipe, so further problems are not expected.

“We’ve had 46 leaks this year, which is a lot,” Petersen added.

Petersen says old pipes appear to be the source of the problems.