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Water-Main Break Floods Neighborhood Streets

A massive break in a Boston Water & Sewer Commission water-main early Tuesday morning sent rivers of water cascading down Myrtle and Hancock streets onto Cambridge Street.

According to published reports, a contractor working for BWSC, identified as D’Allessandro Corp., was replacing a water main at Myrtle and Hancock streets at around 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 21, when they broke a gate valve, which they believed had been shut off.

This caused a large sinkhole at Hancock and Cambridge streets, which was later repaired, and water also reportedly flooded some homes and businesses, but, according to Boston Fire, there were no evacuations or injuries.

In a Sept. 21 statement, Jon D’Allessandro, president of D’Allessandro Corporation, said his workers had  working on replacing old drains, as well as water and sewer pipes, at the intersection of Myrtle, Derne and Hancock streets for the past two months.

“Our contract with the City of Boston specifies that any water main over 12 inches in diameter must be shut down by The Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC). Our work was on a 12-inch water main adjacent to the 30” water main,” said D’Allessandro. “In an email to BWSC dated June 11th, we requested that the 30-inch water main be shut down and remain closed for the duration of our work out of concern for the safety of local residents and our crews. Three days before we began our work in this area, we again notified BWSC and sent notifications to the Boston Fire Department and residents.

“We followed all contractual and safety procedures and an inspector from Boston Water and Sewer was onsite monitoring the project when the 30-inch water main’s valve gave way early this morning,” according to D’Allessandro’s statement.

Beacon Hill Times Staff:
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