Water Main Break Result of 60-Year-old Pipe

An Aquarion official reported Thursday that the cause of Monday's water main break was due to a 60-year-old pipe that had outlived its useful life.

Aquarion, which serves as the public water supply company for much of Connecticut, replaced about 30 feet of that pipe, located beneath Newtown Turnpike and Woodcock Lane.

The break beneath Westport's roads affected about 1,000 customers throughout Fairfield County and took about 10-hours to repair. The overall cost of the repair project totaled about $100,000, including fixing the broken pipe and restoring the road, said Bruce Silverstone, the vice-president of corporate communications for Aquarion.

As part of the repair process, crews had to tear up the pavement and turn off two water valves beneath the road. The process also caused Aquarion to shut off water to Ridgefield and New Canaan. Aquarion officials said about 50 homes were without water and 1,000 were seeing low water pressure in the immediate area of the break Monday. Some homes also experienced basement flooding.

The pipes usually last anywhere between 60 and 80 years, Silverstone said. "This one cracked from age," he added.

Silverstone said Aquarion has a plan to replace sections of old pipes throughout Westport over the next five years, and will make repairs earlier if emergencies call for them.

In related news, the water supply company is considering a rate hike that Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says "would raise rates by $31 million a year over a three-year period," affecting about 600,000 customers in 39 towns, including Westport.

Blumenthal said Thursday that the proposal was "excessive, unwarranted and should be rejected," in a release, adding that instead of justifying an increase, Aquarion has actually "overstated its expenses and actually seeks to bolster its return on equity to a rate higher than any other utility in the state."

 "Aquarion is living in an alternate financial universe," Blumenthal said. "When many consumers have lost jobs and income, and are conserving money to overcome economic disaster, Aquarion is opening the dam...."

Wilton Patch Editor Christian Camerota contributed to this report.