ST. LOUIS — On Tuesday, the City of St. Louis Water Division made clear that it could take weeks to fix a 60 inch water main break that flooded Interstate 64 near the Tamm Avenue overpass. The break shut down all lanes during rush hour on Friday.
City crews have since cut down a couple of trees around the pipe. They're working on hiring a contractor to excavate and make the repair.
Residents in Dogtown told 5 On Your Side the problems persisted over the weekend.
"We went into our kitchen, turned on the faucet in the kitchen sink and it was definitely lower that day. It was noticeably lower," Larry Gilbertson said.
"We offered our neighbor our apartment to shower because her apartment complex didn't have any water pressure over the weekend,” Nick Pellegrini added.
On average, the city's water division responds to about one water main break a day.
According to Missouri American Water, water under pressure can find weak spots in aging infrastructure and lead to a break. In addition, similar to during the winter, soil movement can leave mains unsupported. Also, summer main break season begins as the temperature climbs.
There have been 160 water main breaks in St. Louis this year and there is usually more than 300 every year.
With things happening so frequently, we wanted to know what it will take to improve the water systems so that these issues don't cause any more interruptions.
“With an older system, you generally have more things to update on. Replace stuff that has worn out or that has been broken,” Curt Skouby, director of the Department of Public Utilities with the city, said.
A spokesperson for the city told 5 On Your Side there has not been a rate increase posed to residents in 13 years and that it is something they would consider.
“The idea is that the customers pay a rate at a level high enough to sustain the operations and make the needed improvements to the system,” Skouby added.
Residents we spoke to said they would be willing to learn more about the upgrades needed and possibly take a reasonable increase.
“Whatever it takes to make sure that we have a good stable supply. Reliable, stable supply of good, clean, safe drinking water,” Gilbertson said.
The city’s water division said they are monitoring what other cities and communities are doing to address issues within their systems.
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