Water Main Break Successfully Repaired.

DPW Director Robert "Brutus" Cantoreggi, was pleased to announce the return of water service to homes and businesses along West Central Street near the Bellingham border at mid-day on Wednesday. He noted,  "In Franklin now we do not have many water breaks. When I started over 20 years ago we would have 2 to 3 per week. It was a big problem that upset the residents. 

"That is one of the main reasons that the Town spent over $25 million in the last 20 years. It was called the Water Line Replacement Program. On a side note, water rates increased a lot during that time."
Failures, like the one under West Central Street, can happen for many reasons, including old pipes, shifting soils, or poor installation years ago, he said

Determining the scope of the problem involves detective work. "First, we have to isolate the leak, then expose the break, determine the cause, and then make the best repair possible," he said.
In this instance, the unusual depth made for problems, especially given the deadly trench collapses on the Cape and in Boston in recent years.   "Safety is always my biggest concern," said Cantoreggi.   "Normally water pipes are buried with a minimum of 4 feet of soil, so as to be below the frost line."

"As we started digging, we realized this water line was installed under a box culvert stream, 16 feet down. Franklin DPW isn't equipped to handle that depth of work. I played it safe and called in assistance from an outside contractor with the equipment and experience to perform this type of work," he explained. That company was Blue Diamond from Walpole.  "They are our 'On-call' outside contractor, it's a contract that we bid out annually," he added.