North Spokane water main bursts

A city water main in north Spokane burst Wednesday morning, leaving several homes without water as crews worked to fix the damage.

The break at North Cincinnati Street and East Dalton Avenue was reported just before 6:30 a.m., water superintendent Roger Burchell said. The water came out at 80 pounds of pressure per square inch and buckled and broke through the asphalt on the street, he said.

The water department’s office is just a few blocks away, so crews were able to respond within minutes and had the water shut off by 7:30 a.m, city utilities spokeswoman Marlene Feist said. The water main was installed in 1958.

Street debris and water that flowed out of the pipe caused some traffic restrictions downhill on East North Foothills Drive as pumper trucks removed standing water from the road. Feist said traffic restrictions there and on North Hamilton Street were lifted before noon. Cincinnati Street between Euclid and Dalton avenues is expected to be closed another day or two while the street is repaired.

All homes that lost water service as a result of the burst had water restored Wednesday, but three homes needed temporary connections, Feist said.

Burchell said the break was in a 12-inch cast-iron pipe.

Feist said the cause of the break was not known, but repeated freezing and thawing of pipes during the winter often leads to breaks.

“You see a lot of breaks during that cycle, through the expanding and contracting of pipes,” she said.