Staff report
Several businesses in the Rutland Plaza were without water on Tuesday, Oct. 16, after pipes broke over the weekend.
Wal-Mart temporarily closed Saturday, Oct. 13 after a pipe “blew up” behind it, said Rutland Department of Public Works Projects Manager David Sears. About four hours after the Wal-Mart pipe was fixed, a pipe broke near Price Chopper, Sears said. Another pipe broke on Sunday. On Monday, a sprinkler system broke near Dollar Tree.
Fabian Earth Moving of West Rutland was digging the pipes up on Tuesday.
John Center, a co-owner of Fabian, said his company worked until the early morning hours over the weekend.
Dollar Tree and Game Stop were both without water.
“You don’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling here when you have four breaks in two days,” he said.
The plaza’s water system is privately owned, but the Rutland City Department of Public Works was called in to help turn the valves on and off.
Sears said several businesses were without water on Tuesday, including Dollar Tree and the Game Stop. He believed aggressive soils caused the breaks.
“I don’t know if it has to do with being an industrial area for years and years,” Sears said. Sears said there are two different kinds of pipe—cast iron and ductile iron.
“The bottom of the pipe has been deteriorated,” he said.
It was unclear when the water situation would be restored.
Sears said the pipes will likely need to be replaced.
