Napa Crews Fill In Sinkholes Developing Since Quake; Primary Water Line Still Intact
NAPA (KCBS) — Work crews in Napa are repairing a number of small sinkholes have been developing after water main breaks resulting from the magnitude 6.0 earthquake on Sunday and its aftershocks.
Napa city spokesman Barry Martin said there have been about 10 separate areas around town so far where water underground has leaked into the soil and eroded the concrete.
"None of them have been large. None of them have damaged any structures. No one has fallen into any of them. But as soon as any of them get noticed, we barricade them off and as we go through and repair the water line that's causing that sink hole, then the sink hole gets filled in as well," he said.
He says crews are still dealing with about 45 water leaks throughout the system which officials now expect will be completely repaired by the end of Friday.
While there are still 400 customers in Napa without water service, the city's primary transmission line is still intact.
Martin called that an unexpected piece of good news since the 50-year-old concrete pipe tends to break once a year even without a quake.