Bad break on Highland Ave.

SALEM — Salem residents along Highland Avenue were without water Friday morning and into the afternoon after a pair of water main breaks.

A high pressure system pipe burst occurred on Highland Avenue near Tropical Products around 4:30 a.m. with a smaller pipe just a few blocks away on Crowdis Street also breaking, Salem city engineer David Knowlton said.

“It was a break in a 16-inch main, about eight feet long, as part of a high pressure system,” Knowlton said of Highland Ave. “We also had a second break on Crowdis we believe happened at the same time in the high pressure zone. The effects of both were the same and we had the water off for most of the day.”

Residents of the area, including Witchcraft Heights, experienced low water pressure, loss of water or brown water. Neighborhoods in Lynn on the South side of Highland Avenue were unaffected. Work was done on both pipes into Friday afternoon, limiting Highland Avenue to just one lane of traffic for most the day, with crews finishing the repairs around 3 p.m.

“It went fairly well,” Knowlton said. “The main break was right in the middle of Highland Avenue between the two guard rails and we were able to get crews down there to fix the problem rather quickly.

“We don’t want to put it on full blast right away,” Knowlton said. “But the system should be back to normal this evening.”

A statement released by Salem said that residents may experience brown water when using running water for the first time after the break but this is not unusual. Residents are told to run only cold water until the discoloration clears.

As for the reason for the water main break, Kowlton points to similar problems around the city as the surrounding pipe systems age.

“It’s an old pipe and there’s a lot of similar pipes in the area,” Knowlton said. “We have had similar breaks over the last five years. It’s one of the pipes we’re looking at going forward. 

“There’s a lot of ledgerock and rocks out there very close to the pipe. That restricts (the pipes’) ability to move and that’s what causes something like this.”

Daniel Kane can be reached at [email protected].