During the bitter cold, you can bet on water main breaks
A work crew repairs a water main break recently. In the biter cold, Hamtramck’s aging water lines are susceptible to breaks, which in turn disrupts water service for some.
By Charles Sercombe
There’s one guarantee about winter in Hamtramck.
The city’s ancient and fragile water lines are going to bust here and there when it gets bitter cold.
It’s been happening several times for the past few weeks, as the temperatures dip down to the teens, and even single digits at night.
Sometimes there are several that break in the same day, which means that work crews have to start with trying to fix the worst and then move on to the next worse, and so on.
For residents, that often means a disruption to their service.
For some residents, there is no excuse for this happening and point fingers at city hall.
The city administration, in turn, has taken to its Facebook page to assuage those tempers.
“Water main breaks are more common during these frigid temperatures. … The Department of Public Services is handling these issues in order of severity. Please be patient as we work through these problems,” was the latest message.
In some parts of the city, the waters lines are about 100 years old. For many years, work crews have patched together whatever they can of the old system, but the only remedy is for the state and federal government to pump in hundreds of millions of dollars into replacing every single line.
Cross your fingers, you never know.
In the meantime, the city recently sent out a message for homeowners, to make sure their sidewalks are clear of snow and ice – which is their responsibility.
Max Garbarino, a member of the city administration, sent out the following reminder this week:
“Just a friendly reminder that all snow and ice must be removed from sidewalks completely to allow for baby strollers and wheel chairs to pass,” Garbarino said. “Code enforcement will be out all week checking on snow and ice violations. Let’s keep Hamtramck safe. Thank you!”
Feb. 18, 2022
