Another water main breaks on road where landslide happened in Polish Hill
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — More than 10 days after a water main break caused a landslide in Pittsburgh's Polish Hill neighborhood, another water main break was reported on Tuesday night.
It was the second water main break on Brereton Street impacting the same pipe. The good news is that the break has been fixed, and Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority officials said water has been restored and there is no threat to homeowners for more landslides.
"This is definitely not just the second," Polish Hill resident Colleen Shuda said. "There have been multiple, I would say, within the last six months."
Shuda said when she saw PWSA trucks pull up on Tuesday night, she thought to herself, "Not again."
"Just an immediate concern that something else is going on," Shuda said.
Shuda said in the past few months, they'd had issues where the water had to be turned off so many times she says she started to keep jugs filled with water just in case.
Tuesday night's water main break happened 10 days after another break on the same pipe caused a major landslide that forced a family out of their home. The break destroyed much of the road, causing part of it to collapse. It sent mud, trees and chunks of pavement down the hillside, closing part of the East Busway, which has since reopened.
"We have a geotechnical assessment currently underway to look at it more closely at what occurred a couple of weeks ago," Rebecca Zito of the PWSA said.
While Zito can't say exactly why the water main breaks continue to occur, the PSWA assures homeowners that crews are doing everything they can to remedy the situation.
She added that the PWSA has been in touch with homeowners, providing them with updates to keep them in the loop.
"We've been reassured that there is a surveyor that has been on site, and I've seen them around this morning just keeping an eye on everything, making sure that everything is OK," Shuda said. "So, that's a least been reassuring that there are some proactive steps being taken."
As soon as the geotechnical assessment is complete, the PWSA will have a better idea of what the next steps will be for remediation.