Staff and children at a Philadelphia day care were forced to leave the facility Wednesday morning after a century-old water main broke and flooded nearby streets.
The incident occurred along the 1500 block of Germantown Avenue, near West Jefferson Street, in the city's Kensington section around 8:30 a.m.
Water from the busted 20-inch main spilled into the streets, making it difficult for drivers to travel along the roadway. The cast-iron main was installed in 1893, according to officials with the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD). They were trying to figure out how the old pipe failed. A contractor for the water department has been working in the neighborhood since summer, according to residents. PWD was investigating to see if that contractor was doing work on the main that failed and if the break was caused by the ongoing construction, cold weather or something else.
Insurance claims adjusters were going door to door checking for basement flooding.
An investigation last month by NBC10's Mitch Blacher revealed the city's aging infrastructure has resulted in an average of nearly two water main breaks a day -- a number that is still below the national average.
"You have to remember that a pipe that was built in 1801, the start of our system, is no longer in service," said Philadelphia Water Commissioner Howard Neukrug when interviewed by Balcher.
Philadelphia now uses a point system based primarily on age and location to track, identify, repair and replace the most vulnerable pipes. Workers have headsets that help them literally listen to more than 1,000 miles of underground pipeline to maintain the country's oldest water system.
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The average Philadelphia water pipe is 67 years old.
