Oakland County water main break: GLWA CEO says pipe was scheduled to be inspected in 2030

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Crews continue to work around the clock to fix the massive Oakland County water main break.

The backstory:

The break, which occurred around 1:30 a.m. in River Woods Park, has led to water restrictions in Orion Township, Lake Orion, Rochester Hills, and Auburn Hills – impacting a 36-mile span. 

Some residents may only have a trickle of water - but many have none at all.

The water main was first discovered to be leaking on Thursday and Great Lakes Water Authority officials tried to wait and divert water.

"Sunday morning at 1:30 a.m. it broke apart, it blew apart," said Sue Coffey, the CEO of the GLWA. "If we would have isolated it to fix it at that time, (Thursday-Saturday) it would have put Orion Township and that northern part of Auburn Hills out of water instantly.

"At that moment, we said, 'Okay, worst case scenario, it's going to break - here's our emergency response plan.'"

The massive broken pipe was pulled out from about 25 feet down and replaced but it still needs to be connected.

FOX 2: "You didn't think it was going to break, did you?"

"We figured it would break at some point," Coffey said.

FOX 2: "Was this pipe inspected before it blew up?"

"This was on the schedule to be inspected in 2030," Coffey said.

FOX 2: "If you would have inspected it Monday of last week, would you have found the problem?"

"Don't know," she said. "I can't tell you that."

FOX 2: "You can tell me."

"No I literally can't," she said.

Related

• Oakland County water main break: Who is affected by broken main in Auburn Hills
• Auburn Hills water main break: Where impacted residents can get water
• Oakland County water restrictions remain in place after Auburn Hills water main break

Coffey said that in 1975 when the pipe was put into place, at the time it was the best pipe for high pressure technology.

FOX 2: "Now?"

"No," Coffey said. "Most typically it is the pre-stressing wires that have deteriorated more rapidly. It's a tough problem.

"Let me say this, to replace this pipe is about $20 million a mile. We have 80 miles of this type of pipe in our system - that's $1.6 billion."

FOX 2: "If you don't replace them and spend all that money, can we have one of these things again?"

"Yes," she said.