JOYCE — Students attending Crescent School got an unexpected holiday Tuesday after a water main beneath the athletic field broke and began gushing water.
School is expected to be in session today barring unforeseen circumstances, said Clayton Mork, Crescent School District superintendent.
Robocall message
In the unlikely case water pressure is not restored in time for school today, “we will send out a message via our robocalls” no later than 6 a.m. to alert parents not to bring their children to school, Mork said.
About 400,000 gallons of water flowed from the broken pipe after it broke early Tuesday morning, said Connie Beauvais, manager of the Crescent Water Association, which owns and operates that portion of pipeline.
Crews were on scene throughout the day to disconnect the pipe and connect a bypass around it to the school’s water system, she said.
New line
Crews are “constructing a new line because it broke underneath the school track, and I do not want to dig up the track, so we are installing a new line,” Beauvais said.
“We are hooking the school up to a newer . . . existing main so that we don’t disturb the track any more than the line that broke underneath it.”
Work was expected to be completed at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Beauvais said.
Once completed, Beauvais said she expected water pressure would be restored to the school campus and about three surrounding homes also without service.
She estimated it would cost less than $1,500 in total to complete the project.
Low pressure
Mork said he noticed the lack of water pressure at the school at about 6:30 a.m.
“There was still water coming out of the tap,” but at an extremely low rate, he said.
“We did notice that there was a lot of gurgling water coming up through the field and under the track close to the highway before school started, and we had water association people at the scene. They were still assessing it.”
Mork said he waited until about 8:15 a.m. to close school.
“We decided to call it and then began notifying families with our computer system,” he said.
“We sent out voice messages, texts and emails.”
Some students had already arrived at school, he said, so office staff telephoned parents to inform them of the closure.
“We made personal phone calls to make sure families knew that,” Mork said.
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
