Below City Streets Robots Wage War on Water Main Breaks
In the wake of July's water main breaks, the city goes on a high tech search for leaks
The City of Rockville's Department of Public Works is using state-of-the-art technology to ensure that there isn't another water main break like the two that occurred back-to-back in July. The approach includes using robots to check the 24-inch water main for structural problems. The culprit in both breaks was an electrical surge that stopped the pumps that move water through the main. In both cases, when the pumps restarted, a surge of water pushed through the pipe all at once. "Both those surges coincided with bad voltage delivered from Pepco. Pepco confirmed this," said Craig Simoneau, director of the Department of Public Works. "We believe the surge was a large factor in the breaks," Simoneau said. "The motor shuts itself off because…
