A property owner in Queens receives a 3 day notice after the NYC DEP is made aware of a flooding basement due to the domestic water main line leaking in the street.  The property owner had to make a quick decision as he could not risk having the water shut off with tenants living in the building, he had a few hours to make a decision while the severity of the leak was getting worst as each hour passed.  Harris Water Main and Sewer Contractors was awarded the job and began working on all of the required paperwork immediately.

The first step was contacting both DOT (Department of Transportation) and DEP as an emergency permit number had to be obtained prior to excavating.  The Harris water main on-site crew first attempted to shut off the curb valve in order to locate where the pipe was leaking, if the curb valve was shut off and the leak stopped, we would have known the pipe was broken somewhere in-between the curb valve and the foundation wall.  Unfortunately the water main was 80 yrs old and the curb valve was no longer functional.  The crew now began excavating in the roadway after locating the existing tap connection, the tap hole was dug out and the water was shut off within 1 hour.

At Harris Water it is standard procedure to locate the tap connection, shut the water off and confirm that the 3 day notice was accurate.  If the water had not stopped upon shutting off the tap connection, Harris would have called the NYC DEP back on-site to perform further investigation to locate where the leak was coming from. In this case, Harris Water shut the main water line tap connection and the leak did stop, confirming the DEP 3 day notice was accurate.

After analyzing different factors of the leak, the foreman on-site made an educated decision to begin excavation on the sidewalk.  He factored in the direction that the water was flowing at street level and the location of where the water was entering in the basement.

The crew started to excavate on the sidewalk where they were able to locate the leaking pipe.  A 5’section of the existing 3” ductile iron water service was replaced along with the installation of a new curb valve as required by DEP.  The entire repair and installation of the curb valve was completed within 3 hours, the NYC DEP arrived on-site shortly after and inspected the repair as per DEP requirements.  The hole in the street and sidewalk were backfilled leaving another satisfied customer.  Both the street and sidewalk were permanently restored within 24 hours of the job completion and Harris Water Main & Sewer Contractors successfully completed another 3 day notice water main repair.