A major road is back open in Harrisburg after another water main break shut South Cameron Street down for the weekend. This break is the latest in the line of water woes that has Harrisburg leaders talking about their infrastructure options.
Right now, about 3,000 water customers in this area are under a boil water advisory. The good news is crews have wrapped up the construction and South Cameron Street is open for travel. The repairs are in place and the hole is closed up. However, the boil water advisory is still in place and this could be just the beginning of an ever-growing problem.
Harrisburg Public Works employees were busily working over the weekend to repair yet another water main break. The image is becoming a popular site over the past several weeks.
“It’s an aging city, so it’s going to have more problems,” resident Martin Gamez.
The latest break was discovered Saturday along the 1600 block of South Cameron Street. Crews dug up the road and replaced a 20 foot section of piping that dates back to the 1880’s. Before the fix, several homes were flooded.
“This happens not that often, but the flooding and whatnot, especially this area floods a lot,” Gamez said.
Because of the break, 3,000 water customers were forced to boil the water. The boil water advisory is in effect until the water can be cleared by the Department of Environmental Protection.
This latest break is the third large water main break in Harrisburg since New Year’s Day. A break along North Fourth Street crippled an entire city block and forced evacuations because of a lack of heat and water.
An aging infrastructure is to blame for the problems. Much of Harrisburg’s guts date back to the late 1800’s. Harrisburg is much like many cities across the U.S. as it battles an aging problem. With little money in the budget to simply keep the city afloat day-to-day, infrastructure concerns are growing as city leaders look to a plan to keep the city up and running.
Water has reportedly been restored to the area although residents remain under a boil water advisory. This advisory is for anyone south of Paxton Street and all the way to the southern city line. Five samples need to be conducted and passed before the DEP will give the all clear. Early estimates put that at this afternoon, at the earliest.