In Forsyth, Broken Pipes Followed Bitter Cold

This winter's harsh weather has created hazards on the roads and even under the roads. In Forsyth County, there's been an unusually high number of water main breaks that have forced drivers to find alternative routes.

A water main break at the busy corner of Second and Main streets in downtown Winston-Salem shut down a stretch of the road early Monday. Water gushed from the break into a Duke Energy culvert, finally bursting out under a lamppost near the Business 40 exit. The road was shut down as a precaution.

February's run of cold weather wreaked havoc on the pipes that snake underneath the roads. In Forsyth County, a series of water-main breaks shut down key roads, including US 52 near Clemmonsville Road, during the peak of the cold snap that saw temperatures drop into the single digits.

Courtney Driver is the deputy director of city/county water services. She says the pipe damage across the county has been so widespread this year it's hard to see a pattern. It doesn't appear to be related to the pipes' age or materials used to make them.

“They're not in a particular area - they're kind of spread out. We've had the one downtown here underground and we've had some aerial crossing that's broke. So it's random,” says Driver.

For example, the pipe on Second Street was installed in the 1920s and was made of cast iron, according to department records. The pipe that ran along the Cassell Street bridge - the broken line that prompted the closing of US 52 - was made of a newer type of iron called ductile iron and was installed in 1963. A water main break at Interstate 40 and Union Cross Road was from a pipe also made of ductile iron and was installed in 1991.

Driver says the agency has been working for the last few years to replace aging pipes in the county's problem areas.

“When we identify areas that are in need of a complete rehab then we focus on those areas. Ardmore, being one of the older systems and experiencing a lot of work orders, that system in that basin is getting a complete overhaul.”

Other areas getting updated water mains include the neighborhoods around 25^th Street and around 21^stStreet. In all, Driver says water services has received more than 400 service calls so far this year related to the weather.