Milwaukee residents concerned after water gushes into street for second day
By Stephen Cohn & Maddie Augustine
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MILWAUKEE (WISN) — Milwaukee residents shared their frustration with 12 News on Monday after water gushed out onto their street.
Neighbors said the water started flowing near 38th Court and Helena Street around 11:30 a.m.
Residents said the water has been gushing into the street for two days in a row after crews showed up to replace pipes.
They said they called the city and were told since Monday is a holiday no one would be out to take a look at what was going on until Tuesday. Late Monday, one resident said they were told crews would show up Monday night. 12 News crews were on site when crews arrived to the area around 6 p.m.
Milwaukee Water Works and MJ Construction, the private company contracted by the city, told 12 News a water main break was to blame for both instances.
Residents said their water pressure dropped when the water first started gushing out over the weekend.
“Are we going to end up with a sinkhole where the street’s real weak and all of a sudden somebody is going to drive over and fall into a sinkhole?” asked concerned neighbor William Libby.
MJ Construction was contracted by the city to replace the water main in the area, prior to the breaks.
“The reason why they’re replacing the water main, just because it’s junk,” John Fuller, operator for MJ Construction, said. “It keeps blowing.”
12 News asked MJ Construction if it is standard during water main replacements for there to be multiple breaks in the old main.
“These things do happen like that,” Fuller said. “It’s just you can’t tell where they’re going to break.”
The repair process for the break on Monday took crews about five hours. According to MJ Construction and Milwaukee Water Works, there is not an exact timeline for when the new water main in the area will be running, they have to wait for a safe sample test and hook up each house to the new main. Until then, the old main will remain in operation.
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