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Auburn lifts boil order after repair of sinkholes

Water mains ruptured Tuesday after truck hit fire hydrant

Jake Staples SOURCE: Jake Staples
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Auburn lifts boil order after repair of sinkholes
Water mains ruptured Tuesday after truck hit fire hydrant
The Auburn Water District has lifted a boil-water order after a water main ruptured earlier this week, causing large sinkholes to open on several streets.The announcement was made Wednesday morning after samples came back clean.Residents on Goff, Charles, James, Grant, Pine, Pearl, Oak, Willow and School streets were affected.The boil-order was issued on Tuesday after a tractor-trailer knocked over a fire hydrant on Goff Street around 2 p.m.Water was gushing through the streets for much of the afternoon on Tuesday before crews shut off water to the area. The surging water pulled sand and gravel away from the road, creating the sinkholes.All the holes were filled and the hydrant was shut off."The hydrant was out in the street here, but just the way it grabbed the stem, which controls the valve down in the hydrant, it ripped the valve out of the hydrant. So when it did that, it caused a pressure drop. This is at the base of a hill. We're kind of in a high-pressure area. So when you have that jolt in pressure, it basically sent a shock wave through the system and broke every main down through here," Michael Broadbent of the Auburn Water and Sewer District said.

The Auburn Water District has lifted a boil-water order after a water main ruptured earlier this week, causing large sinkholes to open on several streets.

The announcement was made Wednesday morning after samples came back clean.

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Residents on Goff, Charles, James, Grant, Pine, Pearl, Oak, Willow and School streets were affected.

The boil-order was issued on Tuesday after a tractor-trailer knocked over a fire hydrant on Goff Street around 2 p.m.

Water was gushing through the streets for much of the afternoon on Tuesday before crews shut off water to the area. The surging water pulled sand and gravel away from the road, creating the sinkholes.

All the holes were filled and the hydrant was shut off.

"The hydrant was out in the street here, but just the way it grabbed the stem, which controls the valve down in the hydrant, it ripped the valve out of the hydrant. So when it did that, it caused a pressure drop. This is at the base of a hill. We're kind of in a high-pressure area. So when you have that jolt in pressure, it basically sent a shock wave through the system and broke every main down through here," Michael Broadbent of the Auburn Water and Sewer District said.