City of Tulsa work crews dealing with a number of water main breaks

Tuesday, December 6th 2005, 6:08 am

By: News On 6

The current cold snap has water mains bursting all over Tulsa. One at about 55th and Sheridan coated the road in water which quickly turned to ice, causing an accident. Part of the road was blocked off for safety and to make repairs.

In all, there have been at least 40 breaks the past few days. Engineers have been working 16-hour days just trying to keep up and that probably won't change. The city say it's just a matter of time before another pipe breaks.

Rick Caruthers with the city of Tulsa: "There is no way for us to predict where they're gonna happen. We've just got to take care of them when they do happen."

City engineers say there are two reasons why these lines break. One is the extreme cold makes the soil contract, and can pop the pipes.

The other reason is the soil is so dry there's nothing to insulate the pipes from the changes in temperature.