“When we get really, really dry weather, just like in the winter the ground starts moving,” said Fairfield Public Utilities Director Adam Sackenheim. While there has been spurts of rain, there hasn’t been significant amounts of rain for the better part of a month, he said.
“That ground is like concrete,” he said.
The water flow was throttled down after crews arrived on scene so they could make the repair. In all, the repair took about five hours between dispatch and clearing the scene, Sackenheim said. About 90,000 gallons of water was lost.
The shifting ground caused a stress fracture in the line, which is otherwise in good condition, he said.
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