T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Water bubbles out of a broken main broke on Church Street in front of the House of Compassion on Tuesday morning. The area was blocked off by the city so Marshalltown Water Works could more easily fix the problem.

It’s been a busy week for the staff at Marshalltown Water Works as General Manager Zach Maxfield said the organization dealt with five water main breaks in the span of a few days, including one on West Church Street near the House of Compassion that proved particularly challenging.

The Church Street break was first reported on Sunday and, initially at least, fixed by Tuesday before another portion of it broke that night. A crew returned to the scene, fixed it again on Wednesday and repoured the concrete on Thursday. Of the five breaks, four were in the downtown area, while a fifth was reported on Prairie Lane in the southwest corner of town.

“The leak that happened over on 5th (Street) and Linn, when we go work on a main break, we have valves, and so we tried to turn the valves off to isolate the leak to get it fixed, and the valves ended up breaking. So that’s basically what the main breaks were down on 3rd Street was broken valves from trying to get it closed down on 5th,” Maxfield said. “And so with that happening, if your valve breaks in your house, you have to go get another valve, so we had to go put in what they call a line stopper or an insert valve close to that area so that we we have new valves to shut down and isolate the main breaks so we can get them fixed.”

After the re-break on Tuesday, water began bubbling up on the ground on Church Street again, so the crew dug it up and fixed it again before wrapping up the work and repouring the concrete. Maxfield said some nearby residents did temporarily lose service as a result of the breaks, and one of the lessons he took from the situation was the need for an improved communication system when such a break does occur.

Additionally, Maxfield asked those who are having water issues to contact Water Works directly at (641) 753-7913 as opposed to simply posting on Facebook and hoping someone sees it.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.