TOLEDO, Ohio — The water main break at Galena and Chase streets in north Toledo on Nov. 28 is now being called a water system failure, according to the city.
"It was an actual T-fitting that failed on one end so the plug came out of an end which caused the water leak. It wasn't an actual main break," Ed Moore, the director of public utilities for the city of Toledo, said.
The piping caused multiple blocks of roads to flood. Engage Toledo received 17 calls about flooded basements and reports of flooded cars as well.
Moore said the piping was installed in 1931, about 91 years ago. Now it has been replaced with a 90-degree elbow fitting, which Moore says is up to date.
"What we anticipate in the industry is essentially 100 years out of a water main," he said. "We couldn't do that type of fitting or that type of construction today."
Crews then looked to see if there were any other nearby piping that could be problematic.
"We found another similar T-fitting at the intersection of Erie and Galena (streets) and we've replaced it and blocked that as well," Moore said.
The city's plan is to finish some updates to storm pipes this week, then get started on paving next week. The goal is to hopefully have blocked-off sections of Erie and Galena streets and Chase and Galena streets reopened the first week of January.
Some in the neighborhood noticed that the cracks in the street looked bigger after the water flooded the streets. Are the roads going to crumble? Moore said it's not a concern and that a solid base under the street is what matters.
"You're looking at surface pavement," he said. "As long as we have a good base under there, we're not concerned about the road falling in now. The appearance of the road, the final pavement, that could be an issue and we'll look at that in the future to see if we need to repave that road."
When it comes to how much the water main incident will cost the city, that will be figured out after the jobs are finished.
When the incident first happened, city officials said it could have been a 48-inch or 60-inch pipe. They have now confirmed know it was a 24 and 16-inch pipe.