GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The City of Grand Rapids posted an update for neighbors on the southeast side under a boil water advisory after a major water main break Thursday.
Update posted by the City of Grand Rapids - June 13
- The water main break at Adams St SE & Philadelphia Ave SE in Southeast Grand Rapids has been fixed.
- Those in the affected area have water, water boil advisory in effect.
- The cause of the break is still unknown at this time.
- 1st round of samples are being collected this morning. Another set will be collected tomorrow morning for testing on Sunday Morning. If both samples come back clean, we will lift the Boil Water on Sunday.
- We will be going door to door today to deliver 3 cases of bottled water to each property in the boil advisory area. Meijer donated nearly 1,000 cases so a big thank you to them!
- We have started the clean-up to get ready for street repairs. Roads remain closed.
The break on Thursday morning left several streets covered in feet of water, with cars half-submerged and basements flooded.
Crews are also working on a separate break on a smaller water main nearby that shut down Kalamazoo Ave between Ramona and Oakdale Sts Friday morning.
If you need more info on what to do during this boil water advisory, check here.
The city's Water System Manager Wayne Jernberg held a media briefing on Friday discussing the progress towards repairing the broken water main.
Jernberg says water service was shut down for several hours on Thursday before homes in the area got water back in the pipes.
Crews reported the burst pipe was relatively brittle, falling apart relatively easily when they started removing it from the ground. Permanent repairs are scheduled for next week.
When asked on why Philadelphia Avenue filled with feet of water, Jernberg says a combination of an overwhelming amount of water and sand pushed out by the pipe bursting blocked the sanitary sewer and road drains.
The Boil Water Advisory is expected to be lifted on Sunday, assuming today's sample and tomorrow's sample both come back clean.
