Hollister
– A broken water main brought a halt to traffic and water
service to several blocks of Fourth Street.
Hollister – A broken water main brought a halt to traffic and water service to several blocks of Fourth Street.
The break lies under a well-traveled portion of road that’s also part of the Highway 156 business route connecting Hollister and San Juan Bautista.
The main first broke Monday night. Joseph Arballo of the Hollister Water Department said his team fixed the break Tuesday, only to have another segment of the main snap later that day.
On Wednesday, Fourth Street remained closed between College and Line streets – affecting more than 10 homes – as city workers continued their repairs.
When asked if he was surprised when the main broke again, Arballo said, “Oh yeah, I thought, ‘Forget it, we don’t want to get back in there.'”
Nonetheless, Arballo was back in the mud the next day. To avoid any further breaks, the city completely replaced a 20-foot segment of the pipe.
Water service was restored to residents Wednesday evening. But the repairs took longer than 70-year-old Hollister resident Clara Clayton – who had been without water since Monday evening – would have liked.
“I can’t get up in the morning and take a shower,” Clayton said before service was restored. She told the Free Lance she had to go to her daughter’s house whenever she needed water.
Clayton was also annoyed that no one from the city informed her that the water was shut off or when it would be fixed. Instead, she just tried to turn the water on and discovered it wasn’t working.
In order to fix the main, the city dug up a segment of Fourth Street just east of College. New asphalt will have to be put down over the unearthed work area; Arballo said the street should be repaved by the end of the week.
There have a been a number of other breaks on Fourth Street, Arballo said. He attributed much of the damage to earthquakes.
“I don’t know how else you’d get a break that clean,” Arballo said.
He noted that the pipes aren’t exactly new, either.
“These were probably laid back in the ’60s,” Arballo said.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or ah*@fr***********.com.
