By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Portions of Bronson were without water for six or seven hours Wednesday after an unseen water line was accidentally ruptured by a construction crew working on the new Hardees/Jiffy Store complex.
The pipe had not been repaired as of 11 p.m.
A broken water main in front of the new Hardees/Jiffy Store complex in Bronson shut off water to large portions of town.
The commercial complex is located at the only traffic light in town at the intersection of State Road 24 and U.S. 27A. Nearby businesses and residences have been without water for many hours.
At nearby Charlie’s Pub, toilets couldn’t be flushed as the business waited for city water to be turned back on.
Town of Bronson public works employees were waiting in 50-degree temperatures for the correct pipe replacement materials to arrive before they could proceed with the repairs.
Town Councilman Tyler Voorhees was present to observe the operations.
One of the contractors said the broken asbestos pipe did not show up on available maps. Bronson public works officials have had problems in the past with pipes and valves that could not be found before digging started.
The town also didn’t have a shutoff valve close to Wednesday’s pipe break that could have been used to close water flow at the site and avoid a broader shutdown of water in the town.
The town should have cut-off valves every block to avoid large water outages, and there should be maps showing the location of those cut-off valves, but apparently, there are no valves in some areas or they are hidden from view.
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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt January 19, 2022; Posted January 19, 2022
