Repairs being made to Dogtown waterline break

by: Mallory Thomas

Posted: May 15, 2023 / 09:44 PM CDT

Updated: May 15, 2023 / 09:44 PM CDT

ST. LOUIS – Water continued flowing Monday from a main break in Dogtown that flooded Interstate 64 and Highway 40 on Friday.

City officials are working with the Forestry Department to remove a big tree that is right above the waterline break. Residents said the water pressure increased over the weekend.

"We can run the dishwasher now. The first day, you could only flush the toilet one at a time," said Lindsey Dudenhoeffer.

Water crews worked around the clock over the weekend to bring relief and help stabilize water pressure.

"To isolate this, we’re interrupting the normal flow through our system to serve some neighborhoods," said Curtis Skouby, director of public utilities. "One of the things that we’re challenged to do is find high-pressure water in our system and a path to get it to these neighborhoods."

He said originally, they thought the break was on a 30-inch line, but they’ve now learned it is on a 60-inch main line.

"We’re not sure of exactly how it failed. It's a steel pipe. We’ll know more once we excavate and have it exposed to see if it's a split or a hole from corrosion," Skouby said.

He said the 60-inch line brought water all the way from Chesterfield.

"Being a steel pipe, there is a chance we can get a piece of steel that we can have fabricated to make the repair," Skouby said. "We have a little bit of different options to make the repairs for that type of pipe."

Dogtown residents are just happy to see the pressure increasing again.

"The next day, it was a little bit more, and then a little bit more. I would say it's 60–75 percent right now," Dudenhoeffer said.

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