Cork’s burst water main to be sent abroad for expert tests
City engineers confirmed last night they plan to send the damaged section of the 18-inch cast-iron pipe to a specialist piping firm in Birmingham for a barrage of tests.
Council repair crews found a large horizontal crack in the high-pressure pipe which was located under the Old Youghal Road.
The engineers now want the experts to establish if there were any defects in production which could explain its catastrophic failure early on Monday morning.
They also want to investigate if metal fatigue, stress, or corrosion which would have built up over time, contributed to the breakage.
The test results will not be available for several weeks.
A total of 19 houses at Shandon Court and Shandon View Cottages were flooded when the water main, which carries some 200,000 litres an hour, burst at around 2.30am on Monday.
The pipe feeds water, pumped under extreme pressure, up the hills to vast swathes of the city’s northside, and on to parts of the country.
The breakage sent an estimated three million gallons of water cascading down Fever Hospital Steps, flooding homes.
Eight people accepted the city council’s offer of emergency accommodation in nearby hotels.
The council arranged for the delivery of skips and dehumidifiers to the affected residents.
Last night, St Vincent de Paul’s regional president Brendan Dempsey urged residents to secure the services of an independent insurance assessor, and not to accept the first offer from their insurance company.
Monday’s break occurred just 60 metres uphill from where another water pipe ruptured in November 1996.
However, that breakage was blamed on the construction of foundations for a wall directly over the pipe.
Meanwhile, repairs continued in the area yesterday.
Engineers have decided to replace a 30-metre section of pipe, both uphill and downhill of the break.
The work will continue over the coming week but water supply will not be disrupted.
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