Water Main Break

Walt said:
Sandusky's city engineer told Fox 8 News Cleveland, “We finally just figured out it’s an eight-foot crack in the bottom of the pipe, and the water is still coming in still, so they are having trouble keeping the trench dry at this point."

He also indicated the water main is old and has a history of breaks.

Pete - some of the commenters on the Register's website have the opposite view (surprise). :) They think this is another reason to raise the tax to 8% - to pay for repairs such as this.

I'm curious why the water isstill coming in. Wouldn't there be some sort of shut off where the main connects to the rest of the city water system? Like my house but way, way bigger?

JW Addington said:

Jeff said:
The break appears to be right at the parking lot edge. Lots of water, lots of trucks. The bigger question I have is for guests arriving tonight at the hotels. They're automatically refunding hotel guests for any stay last night or tonight.

They are refunding for a stay last night?

Jeff,

Can you confirm the refund for last nights stay? We lost all water pressure at 9:00AM this morning at our hotel, but we were walking out the door and it didn't affect our stay in the least.

If we do get a refund for last night we will most likely dump it back into the park for another stay later in the year.

It took us 2.5 hours to get off the peninsula today. It was crazy but due to the location of the break, I understand why it took so long.

Raptor, I was wondering that too. Breakers said nothing about a refund for last night. We hobo showered after we lost water pressure so we weren't affected that much. We will probably come back and stay there again in a month if we are refunded.

KHTOExtreme said:
+1 Pete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY_Oex-Zk3c&feature=share

Thanks for posting that. I needed a laugh today. Really really needed a laugh....

Totally agree -- here in S.E. Michigan there is a water main break almost every day -- the infrastructure in major American cities hasn't been kept up since the 50's....some of the mains breaking in Ann Arbor, for example, haven't been inspected or kept up since the '20's....Its nationwide, but today's debacle is a result of what happens when an entire peninsula is dependent on one water main --- if this had occured downtown, they could have done some rerouting -- but out there on "the Point" no such options

If you need a laugh, just search cedarpoint on Twitter. Some priceless tweets in there. :)

Pete said:
The city of Sandusky sucks. Water mains have a predictable life span and the city should have replaced this water main before there was any chance of failure. I'm actually surprised there is not a redundant main serving the park.

What are they doing with the admission tax they are collecting? The first thing they should have done with the money is ensure that city utilities serving the park are in good condition. To risk a major failure like this to their cash cow and the only reason Sandusky is on the map is totally irresponsible. How much revenue is being lost, maybe 15 to 20 million dollars? And some in Sandusky want the admissions tax raised to 8%. To rely on only one very old water main to serve the park shows that the city is incompetent and not doing required maintenance. That main should have been replaced years ago.

Cedar Point should consider being annexed into Huron Township and giving Sandusky the raised middle finger.

Amen brother to any big city in America!! All the water mains and infrastructure needs redone!!

KHTOExtreme said:
+1 Pete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY_Oex-Zk3c&feature=share

Ha!! So true!! Needed that!!!

raptor2 said:
Can you confirm the refund for last nights stay? We lost all water pressure at 9:00AM this morning at our hotel, but we were walking out the door and it didn't affect our stay in the least.

I haven't called reservations yet today to confirm, but I was told the same thing in the Breakers lobby at about 11am. I didn't catch his name, but it was someone dressed up with a Cedar Point name tag (obviously a higher up). He told the crowd waiting to check in/out/complain to the front desk that all rooms last night and tonight will automatically be refunded.

We'll see if that actually ends up happening for Friday night rooms, but I did hear the same thing.

Revenue is not the problem. Bloated, inefficient, and often corrupt government is the problem.

I live in metro detroit and have a front row seat for all of the above.

I feel really bad for the park on this one. It's is clearly not thier fault, plus not to mention the loss in revenue as well as all the complaining from people. Sandusky plainly F***ed this one up, and the park gets blamed.

Obviously not Cedar Points fault. This would really suck for someone like me. I live in Milwaukee and drive 6 plus hour to get there and back. If I get to go its a 1 trip thing. I most feel bad for anyone that had to drive a long distance to get to Cedar Point for a once a year trip.

Imagine if you had to fly three people there and couldn't simply drive home. I win.

Well maybe at least you can indirectly benefit from (assumed) increased site traffic.

I know every time I use the site from my phone I end up clicking a dang ad. :)

Found this on Facebook: "City Of Sandusky has issued a BOIL ALERT for the Cedar Point Amusement Park & Cedar Point Peninsula. This will be in effect until water service has returned and tested for bacteria samples. This process will take until at least Sunday evening to complete. Cedar Point park and resort properties will be closed until Monday, according to cedarpoint.com."

As an engineer who deals with these kinds of emergencies all the time, I can tell you that the issue of infrastructure repair/replacement is quite complex.

We consider a typical cast iron water main to have a useful life of about 50 years.
But I've seem 100 year old mains that look like new.
I would think that if Sandusky has had problems with the main, they should, especially given the area it serves, consider replacing it.

I can tell you that last winter's weather played havoc with water mains in N.J. where I live. We're still seeing water main failures that were caused by that weather.Unfortunately , there is no easy way to inspect water mains to determine their condition.

As far as turning off the water, water distribution systems do have intermittent shut off valves, but if they aren't "exercised" every year or so, they can be difficult, at best, to open and close. We find a lot of valves don't work at all, so you can end up having to cut off water to a pretty big area to fix a break.

Hopefully Sandusky's Water Department has the materials on hand to fix the pipe once they get a shut down.

I would also think, based on how they are describing this break that, after it is fixed, there will be a boil water requirement until they have the water tested to be sure there are no issues with bacteria.

Walt said:

firemedic2572 said:
If not for the point the city would not exhist.

What? Cedar Point goes away, they take Lake Erie with them? No doubt Cedar Point plays an important part in the local economy, but that's a ridiculous statement.

Without cedar fair Sandusky has nothing..

What about Callahan Auto?

Hundreds of towns in Ohio and across the country have no Cedar Point, and yet, somehow they survive.