Portland Water
District finds no cause for most of the recent water problems in South
Portland
SOUTH PORTLAND — The Portland Water District doesn’t
know what caused most of the water main breaks that have plagued South Portland
since late August. What it does know is that it’s not at fault.
That was the conclusion of a report
issued by the district Monday afternoon.
Of nine breaks between Aug. 25 and
Sept. 14, one was caused by city hydrant use, the report said, while two others
occurred when excavating equipment hit the lines, in once case by South
Portland Public Works, in the other by New England Utility Contractors.
The other six breaks are listed as
“undetermined.”
In the report, the district's director
of water services, James Wallace, found "no system-wide pressure surges
immediately preceding the leaks" and “no unusual activity” at the water
treatment facility in Portland that would have contributed to a system failure.
“What is clear is that there appears to
be no negligence on the part of the District that contributed to any of these
leaks,” wrote Wallace.
That news came as little consolation to
Tom Howard, owner of J.P. Thornton's at 740 Broadway, knocked out of business
by the Sept. 6 break that sent thousands of gallons rushing across his parking
area rising as high as vehicle floorboards. The deluge led to overflowed sewer
lines, causing gray water to back up through drains into Howard’s restaurant
and deli, shutting the business for a week and idling 45 employees.
The deli and pub reopened last week,
but it’ll be at least another seven to 10 days before the main dining room and
banquet facilities are fit for use, Howard said on Monday.
“I did a real good job of letting
everyone know we were shut down,” said Howard, as he perused the nearly empty
pub from a vacant booth. “But I guess word still hasn’t got out that we’re back
in business.”
Howard said his loss from water damage,
renovations, lost business, and bounced checks when his cash flow came to a
sudden stop, will “easily run six figures.” On top of that, However found out
on Friday that a policy he thought included $25,000 damage insurance and
$25,000 business interruption coverage was, in fact, $25,000 total.
“It’s been a nightmare,” said Howard.
“Stress city. It’s just been a whirlwind week for me.
“I understand that they don’t want to
admit liability, but here I am, in a disaster and everybody knows it. You’d
think somebody would have come by to say, what can we do to help you out?
“I’ve actually had customers and other
business give cash and materials to help us out,” said Howard, marveling at
$100 dropped off from one customer and donations made by area businesses for a
cookout that raised $2,300 to cover payroll.
“But do you know,” said Howard, “that
not a single city councilor came by to say, ‘Gee, Tom, we’re sorry this
happened to you.' If I was Idexx, or National Semiconductor, what do you think
they’d be doing? They’d be right over there, Johnny-on-the-spot, but I guess
I’m not important enough.”
Following Monday’s council meeting,
some officials sounded surprised at the expectation of a personal visit.
“If someone dies in a car accident and
they’re a city resident, do we go to the funeral?” said Councilor Gerard
Jalbert. “Businesses go under all the time in this economy, do we visit every
one and say, ‘Gee, I’m really sorry that happened to you?”
“’I’m not sure what I can do, myself,”
said Mayor Patti Smith. “Sometimes I guess you don’t know that you’re wanted,
but now that I know I’ll be down there in the morning. I don’t know what I can
offer, but I will stop by and see how he’s doing, so he doesn’t feel ignored.”
“It’s unfortunate that it happened,”
said City Manager Jim Gailey. “It wasn’t our utility service that ruptured, but
it is a business within our community. Looking at it in retrospect, maybe a
visit would have been beneficial.”
Meanwhile, Howard said his lawyer has
had talks with the water district and a future suit of some sort may be on the
horizon.
“I’m in circumstances now where I’m in
deep trouble,” said Howard. “I’m 57 and this place is my life savings. I’ve
worked my tail off for 10 years with a lot of sweat equity to get this going.
This is it for me. I don’t deserve to be put out of business because they had a
piece of infrastructure that malfunctioned. I did nothing wrong.”
Michelle Clements, spokeswoman for the
water district, said that if Howard’s own insurance proves insufficient, he can
file a claim under their policy. Gailey, however, sidestepped the question of
city culpability.
“I don’t know where we would be at
fault in this matter, but ultimately it's up to the lawyer to argue that,” he
said.
Clements points out that much of what
has failed in South Portland of late has been century-old pipes that are
“original to the system,” a network that now total’s more than 1,000 miles of
underground pipes. Although Howard faults PFW for not replacing the main by his
place on Broadway two years ago, when that section of road was dug up. Still,
in the past year, Clements said, PWD has spent $1.5 million in water main
upgrades in South Portland.
“Currently we invest about $3 million a year to replace water
pipe and expect by 2016 we will spend $5 million," she said.
The water district had 88 water main breaks last year. That’s down more than 30
percent from 10 years ago, said Clements said. However, South Portland seems to
be moving inversely to the curve. Last year, it accounted for with 16 (18.2
percent) breaks in the water district system. So far in 2012, the water
district has experienced 64 water main breaks, with 17 (26.6 percent) in South
Portland.
For Gailey, the biggest
concern is that PWD do a better job patching streets with it does have to dig
into one to get at a ruptured line.
“Sometimes,” he said,
“they don’t always do the greatest job.”
Meanwhile, Howard says he’ll soldier
on. The business he named for his mother, Joan Patricia Thornton, a decade ago
has grown in small steps, especially since moving to its current home in 2008.
“When you name you’re business after
your mother, you’re not going under. You’re going to do what you can to keep it
going," he said. "Although, if I pull this off, if I can manage to
get out of this one, I may change the name to Thomas Houdini’s.”
A CLOSER LOOK
Day Time Locaton Pipe type Installed Cause
Saturday, Aug. 24 11:57 p.m. Hill Street ductile iron 1993 undetermined
Tuesday, Aug. 28 5:35 p.m. High Street cast iron 1892 Hydrant use by city
Saturday, Sept. 1 3:30 p.m. 58 B Street ductile iron 1998 undetermined
Sunday, Sept. 2 6:40 p.m. Ocean Street cast iron 1900 undetermined
Thursday, Sept. 6 6:36 p.m. Broadway cast iron 1900 undetermined
Thursday, Sept. 6 6:36 p.m. Hinckley Street ductile iron 1999 undetermined
Wednesday, Sept. 12 11 a.m. 59 Maine Street copper 1983 Excavation by city
Thursday, Sept. 13 10 a.m. Evans Street cast iron 1941 excavationby NEUCO
Thursday, Sept. 13 12:45 p.m. n/a n/a n/a
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