GLOUCESTER – A sub-contractor for National Grid using rock drilling equipment on Essex Avenue in Gloucester, indadvertenly split a 20 inch water main between the Lyndale Avenue entrances (east and west) and will require a 14 foot piece of pipe to replace it, according to Joe Lucido, Operations Manager for the Gloucester DPW. Lucdio says that the main was broken at around 12:30 p.m. and water through the main was shut down quickly. Due to the work on Essex Avenue that was going on at the time, and due to the morning’s ice storm and preparation for tomorrow’s snow storm, crews could begin the actual repair process until 3 p.m.
Lucido says that the heavy work that could ordinarily be done by big machines has to be done by hand because of the way the main is lodged in the ledge.
The “best-case scenario,” according to Lucido, is for water service to be restored by 11 p.m. tonight; although the repair could take until 2 or 3 a.m. on Thursday.
