ST. LOUIS — Crews continue to clean up the mess from 16 water main breaks throughout neighborhoods in South St. Louis.
City officials said it was a domino effect that all started on Friday.
The city blames crumbling infrastructure and is using the water main breaks to push for a water rate hike.
The first main break was on Friday, near Lansdowne and Chippewa.
Another big one happened Sunday afternoon on Arsenal. The road was still closed between Hudler and Jamieson on Monday.
The destruction the water main break caused was not only a headache for the city, but also for local business owner Jeff Geisler.
"I've had no customers today. I don't expect I'll have any today because they really can't get to me," he said.
Geisler is wondering why he even opened the doors of his business on Arsenal Street Monday morning.
"Unless somebody is going to walk to my business, they can't really drive here legally because it's closed all the way around me," he said.
Geisler's car shop, Midwest Autoplex, was basically landlocked due to a 20-inch pipe burst Sunday afternoon on Arsenal and Jamieson.
"I haven't heard anything. No messages, nothing about water or anything, so I'm not sure what they're doing," he said.
The cracks on that street weren't the only ones the city was dealing with though. Water crews responded to 16 water main breaks across south St. Louis City in a 48-hour time span.
The conversation started after a 60-inch water main break flooded Interstate 64 exactly one month ago. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said it's a problem the city can't afford to avoid anymore.
"This is a major infrastructure issue in our city, and I am going to address it," she said.
Jones said it would be about $400 million to fix the city's water infrastructure for the long term.
"If residents want clean water, this is unfortunately something we have to pay for," she said.
Now, Mayor Jones is pushing for a water rate hike through a bill currently before the Board of Alderman. Board Bill 49 would implement a 2-time, phased-in rate increase of $5 a month.
"We haven't increased the water rates in over 12 or 13 years. The city's water rates are nearly half that of what St. Louis County residents pay. Our water still isn't metered, so a number of factors, I would say, are in our resident's favor. We want to make sure that we continue to have clean water and good infrastructure for years to come" she said.
5 On Your Side asked Jones if there were any other options outside of water bills increasing that the city could use, like money from the Rams settlement or American Rescue Act funds.
She said ARPA funds from the federal government are already allocated, but money could come from the state.
"They have over $100 million EPA allocations through the bipartisan infrastructure law, and we've been in conversations with the EPA on other funding sources as well," Jones said.
Right now, Geisler just wants to know when the 'road closed' signs will be removed because as a business owner, every day counts.
"Sometimes these guys drag this stuff out for a long time. It'd be comforting to know that it's going to get fixed today and be open tomorrow," he said.
The city has fixed five of the water main breaks from over the weekend.
That means 11 repairs are still in progress across south St. Louis.
City officials said the stretch of Arsenal, where the water main break is, will be closed until repairs are complete. They aren't sure when that will be.
According to the city, below are the water main breaks that have been completed and the ones that are still being repaired as of Monday afternoon:
Repairs Completed:
- 5311 Itaska
- 7133 Winona
- Donovan & Lansdowne
- Clifton & Rhodes
- 5641 Eichelberger
Repairs in Progress:
- 5711 Finkman
- Macklind & Walsh
- Lindenwood & Hampton
- Compton & Eiler
- 55411 Lansdowne
- 6824 Magnolia
- 4519 Carter
- Plainview & Chippewa
- 6503 Bradley
- Arsenal & Jamieson
- Wilson & Hampton