Broken water main floods Salt Lake City street
Jun 7, 2023, 9:50 AM | Updated: 1:29 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Crews have closed 300 East between 800 and 900 South due to a water main break.
Officials with the Salt Lake City Police Department said the closure is expected to be in place for several hours Wednesday. People can park on the east side of 300 East but officials are asking the public to avoid the area as much as possible.
The Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities said 900 South is under construction right now, but a spokesperson could not confirm if this water main break was related to that construction. Earlier Wednesday, a small geyser shot up about 4 feet because of the break.
One neighbor said her basement has some flooding after water from the break flowed down her driveway and through an open window to her basement crawl space area. There is also an area of the road that is washed out.
“Hopefully we’re not gonna have to go and do sandbags again, but we’ve all probably had some practice at this point,” said Keith Croft, who has lived in the area for 10 years. He was on a bike ride Wednesday morning when he pedaled back to find the street blocked off.
The Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities says a 12-inch water main installed back in 1978 is the culprit.
“We’ll do repairs on the water line, get everything back up and running. We should not see an issue with water quality after this,” said Chloe Morroni, communications manager for the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities.
They hope to get the water back on for the center midday to late afternoon.
The road will take longer for repairs… about 2-3 days.
📍 300 E between 800 and 900 S closed as crews work!@KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/kMM7aBRRO9
— Karah Brackin (@kbontv) June 7, 2023
Morroni said there is a senior independent living center that is currently without water.
“It should not take too long to get the water back to them,” Morroni said.
She said getting the road repaired will take longer.
“I walked over just to see if my neighbors were just kind of making a big deal out of it when it wasn’t, but that is not the case,” Croft said.
Public utility crews hope the senior independent living center’s water will be back on by late Wednesday afternoon. As for the road, they are estimating two to three days for repairs.
