Emergency Water Shutoffs By Public Works Officials On Upswing As Bursting Frozen Pipes In Vacant, Abandoned Homes Create Havoc

In Worcester, Massachusetts, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports:

• Annoyed public works officials say the winter freeze has them conducting more emergency water shut-offs because of burst pipes at vacant or abandoned homes, many of them in the foreclosure process. The foreclosure piece compounds the problem, officials in Worcester, Southbridge and Fitchburg said this week.

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• “Right now, folks are abandoning the house and the last thing they care about is the heat in the house,” Konstantin Eliadi, Worcester director of water and sewer operations, said Tuesday. In some instances, the water practically races out of basement windows. “It’s an issue that we never had before,” Mr. Eliadi said. The only thing the department can do is shut the valves off in the street, he said.

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• On Monday, water from a burst pipe in a vacant home reached a West Street sidewalk, where a small child slipped on the ice. The child suffered a facial injury and was taken by ambulance to Harrington Memorial Hospital, according to police and DPW officials. “It’s one of those crazy things that you wouldn’t think of,” said Southbridge Police Chief Daniel R. Charette, adding that vacant properties are also susceptible to break-ins and rodents.

For more, see Pipes bursting in vacant homes (Foreclosures leave sites unattended).

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