Lafayette water pipeline breaks for fourth time since 2011

LAFAYETTE, Calif. (KGO) -- There is a water main break in Lafayette, but this week wasn't the first time. An ABC7 viewer alerted us the same water main that has broken three other times since 2011. ABC7 News asks East Bay Municipal Utility District is saying about this incident.

"This is the fourth time... I did hold up four fingers right?"

Lafayette's Patrick McKenna told us he knew what it was, almost as soon as he heard it because it's happened so many times before. He is upset to hear the sound of water gushing toward his Lafayette home once again.

"The water was coming down so fast... it's so hard to really get a grasp, it's dark... the water's coming down people are screaming, yelling... nobody's coming," McKenna said.

McKenna says he called 911 just after 6 a.m., but the water wasn't shut off until much later. He said, "East Bay MUD showed up, but they couldn't find the mains. They didn't get the main turned off until between 7:30 and 8:00 -- that's an hour and a half."

"The city of Lafayette had repaved a portion of Highland," EBMUD spokesperson Nelsy Rodriguez said.

According to EBMUD, the delay was partly due to the fact that city crews had paved over their shutoff valves, without marking them. That apparently is a common practice.

"We have more than 4,000 miles of pipeline to maintain, so this one...like all the others that have continued to break, is in the cue, we're getting to them," Rodriguez said.

In the meantime, EBMUD urges homeowners with damage from this break... to file a claim with the district.