Date: Fri 06-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

United-Water-Co-hydrant-vandal

Full Text:

Water Pressure Dips Dangerously Low After Vandals Open Hydrants

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Early on the morning of Saturday, January 31, an unknown vandal or vandals

opened three fire hydrants in the Castle Hill Road-West Street area, allowing

an estimated 200,000 gallons of water to gush out of the United Water public

water supply system.

Kevin Moran, manager of United Water, said Monday the water company was

alerted to the problem by an alarm which sounded, indicating there was low

water pressure in the system caused by water levels rapidly dropping in the

company's storage tank atop Mt Pleasant, off Reservoir Road.

Water company personnel quickly responded to the alarm, thinking that it meant

there was a broken water main somewhere in the water system, Mr Moran said.

But on reaching the Castle Hill Road-West Street area, the workers found that

three fire hydrants had been deliberately opened by someone, causing the water

supply system to be losing a few thousand gallons of water per minute, he

said. The low-water alarm sounded about 4:20 am.

United Water has its wellhead for the system in the Pootatuck Aquifer on the

east side of South Main Street, across the street from Sand Hill Plaza. The

water is pumped several miles to the approximately 500,000-gallon water

storage tank off Reservoir Road where water pressure is created to serve the

system's 1,000 customers. Storing water in the hilltop tank also creates water

pressure for fire fighting.

Considering that the tank had somewhat less than 500,000 gallons in it when

the incident began, and an estimated 200,000 gallons of water leaked out, more

than 40 percent of the water in the tank gushed out of the three fire

hydrants.

By way of comparison, the volume of water in the town swimming pool at

Treadwell Park in Sandy Hook is about 260,000 gallons.

Water which shot out of the three hydrants drained down roadways and went into

stormwater catch basins, Mr Moran said.

Mr Moran estimated that the water was gushing out of the hydrants for at least

an hour before the water company learned of it. The gushing water apparently

did not cause property damage, he said.

During the incident, the water pressure in the United Water system was greatly

reduced, posing potential hazards in the event the system was needed to supply

water for firefighting, he said.

The 200,000 gallons of water lost in the incident is worth about $950, based

on residential water rates, Mr Moran said. There have been previous cases of

fire hydrants being opened illegally, but it is not a common event in Newtown,

Mr Moran said.

Hydrants in the Castle Hill Road-West Street part of the water system have

especially high water flow rates due to the topography of the system, he said.

Luckily, it was warm enough when the incident occurred that there were no

icing problems, he said.

Police are categorizing the incident as three counts of first-degree criminal

mischief, which is a felony and punishable by a jail sentence if there is a

conviction.

Police ask anyone with information about the case to contact them at the

police station at 426-5841.