PA American Water Dealing With Persistent Water-Line Break Near Route 51-Stilley Road Intersection

The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch spoke with Gary Lobaugh, Pennsylvania American Water’s External Affairs Manager for Western Pennsylvania, on Monday, Feb. 14, about a persistent water-line problem near the intersection of Route 51-Stilley Road in the .

Lobaugh confirmed that PA American Water suffered a water-line break there around Feb. 3. He said that the break occurred on a six-inch main that was installed in 1895 and that it is “a pretty significant leak in a pretty old piece of pipe.”

“What we’re doing now,” Lobaugh said, “is transferring services off of the old [six-inch] main onto a newer main, which is a 12-inch.”

The newer pipe had already been installed at that location prior to the older pipe breaking.

“We’ll be working there [near the Route 51-Stilley intersection], weather permitting, until the end of the week making the transfers,” Lobaugh said. “We anticipate being done by Friday, this week [Feb. 18].”

Lobaugh said that the newer, wider water line is running parallel to the older, narrower 1895 line and that, given its bigger size, it should be able to handle an increased workload.

PA American Water has no plans to install a new line near the Route 51-Stilley intersection, according to Lobaugh, opting instead to rely on the wider, parallel line.

The B-W Patch first reported on this water-line break via Twitter, Facebook and its main-site live feed on Feb. 3. The B-W Patch then reported through those same media on Feb. 4 that work on the water line had been completed.

However, the B-W Patch then noticed and reported on Feb. 9 that a large bubble had formed on Route 51 at the site of the previous work. Since then, PA American Water has been back on the scene working on the problem.

Lobaugh confirmed suspicions that PA American Water’s initial attempt at correcting the water-line break had been unsuccessful. Indeed, the company tried to patch the old pipe before it broke again, leading to its current attempt at transferring services to a newer pipe.

“If [the broken line] was installed in 1895,” Lobaugh said, “it certainly outlived its usefulness.”

Lobaugh said that the newer line is approximately 50 years old.

“The usual life span of a pipe is anywhere between 80 and 100 years old,” he said.

Check back with the B-W Patch for traffic updates. Right now, only one lane is open each way on Route 51 near the Stilley intersection, which is very close to the much busier Route 51-Brownsville Road intersection in Brentwood Borough.