Water main breaks in Oak Park, closes Kanan





By Lori Porter
Acorn Staff Writer

In the early evening hours of Fri., Sept. 19, an underground water main in Oak Park fractured, turning Kanan Road into the Kanan River and forcing the closure of Kanan between Hawthorne and Spanish Oak.


The break occurred just east of Oak Hills Elementary School and caused a temporary loss of recycled water that irrigates many commercial properties, including North Ranch Golf Course.


After the asphalt broke loose, the highway patrol immediately secured the area Friday while officials from Calleguas Municipal Water District (CMWD) began to tear up a large area of Kanan to evaluate and repair the leak.


Don Kendall, general manager at CMWD said workers found a longitudinal break in the pipeline. "Large diameter pipeline typically doesn’t fail in this way," he said.


Making Friday’s pipeline break suspicious is that an identical incident took place four years ago in the same area, closer to Hawthorne Avenue. According to Kendall, the findings four years ago revealed a defect in PVC pipe. CMWD sued the manufacturer, B&W Pipeline.


CMWD engineers had the line repaired by 8 a.m. Saturday, but crews from CMWD and B&W Pipeline worked nonstop from the time the pipe burst on Friday until Saturday just after 6 p.m., restoring a large cavity in the street with back fill and asphalt before opening Kanan Road again to motorists. Water service to commercial customers was also restored by Saturday evening.


The broken pipe was taken to the district office so that CMWD officials could thoroughly inspect it.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *