BOZEMAN — A water main burst on the northeast side of Bozeman, leaving some folks without water. Let's look a couple of feet into the ground as repair crews actively work to turn the water back on.
City of Bozeman Utility Director Shawn Kohtz says enough water froze on North Broadway Avenue Tuesday night to fill nearly eight Olympic-sized pools.
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"The extreme cold temps have caught up with our water system. We have had a number of water main breaks over the last few weeks," Kohtz says.
How does a pipe like this burst?
"In this particular case, we had basically the freezing temperatures that caused the frost depth to get down close to the water main, and it caused the soil to shift in the vicinity of the main. It caused it to do this; It broke the water main," Kohtz says.
Kohtz says that breaks can be due to old age in neighborhoods like this one in northeast Bozeman.
"We have many main breaks due to old water mains. A lot of times, you can get corrosion that will basically wear the pipe down to the point where it gets a hole in it, and it breaks," Kohtz says.
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Kohtz says the city is trying to prevent more water mains from breaking.
"We have a program where we regularly replace water mains. We try to do that proactively so that we don't get those. It is hard to predict exactly where those corrosion holes will happen," Kohtz says.
And to best prevent a pipe from bursting in your own home?
"If somebody is going to leave for the winter or a few weeks, it might be good to have somebody stop by the house and run the water occasionally, just to keep their pipes warm and keep some water moving those," Kohtz says.
As the Bozeman water crew works to replace this water main and restore water to the surrounding homes, Kohtz asks for the public's patience.
"Just ask everybody to be patient with us while we do the work. I know it can be frustrating to be out of water or have a road shut down, but the crews are working as fast as they can," Kohtz says.
