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Newark-area boil water advisory extended into Wednesday, after water main break affects 100,000
By
Louis C. Hochman
and
Karen Yi
Published Aug 9, 2022
Modified Aug 9, 2022
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Belleville Mayor Michael Melham
By
Louis C. Hochman
and
Karen Yi
Published Aug 9, 2022
Modified Aug 9, 2022
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Newark city workers were going door-to-door with water Tuesday after more than 100,000 people were affected by a 72-inch water main break that compromised service in the city as well as in nearby Bloomfield and Belleville.
Officials said most of the affected area was experiencing low water pressure, though most residents still had water.
Early Tuesday, officials estimated the water main break in Essex County's Branch Brook Park would be repaired by the end of the day. Belleville issued an update on its website late Tuesday afternoon, saying service to most customers in that township would have service restored by about 5 p.m. But Anthony Iacono, Belleville’s township manager, clarified to Gothamist that many could still see low water pressure, and the main hadn't yet been fixed as of 5 p.m.
A boil water advisory had been extended into Wednesday morning.
Workers were trying to divert water into different directions to take pressure off the broken pipe, so they could isolate it and conduct repairs, Iacono said.
"It’s a jigsaw puzzle," he said.
Kareem Adeem, director of Newark's water and service department, previously told Gothamist that by late morning, officials had closed off most of the valves in the area of the break, which sent water gushing through the park and flooded nearby streets for hours.
Iacono said a car was swallowed up by a sinkhole after the 140-year-old pipe ruptured and a street caved in around 6:30 a.m.
“It literally absorbed the entire vehicle,” he said, but added the woman driving the car was able to escape the car before it sunk.
In Newark, the North, West, South and Central Wards had all been affected. The Newark Board of Education canceled all summer school programs.
Belleville's fire department was pumping water to Clara Maass Medical Center, officials there said. Belleville Mayor Michael Melham said on Facebook midafternoon the township would request bottled water from the state "if the problem cannot be addressed in a timely fashion."
"Please know. This is NOT your typical water main break," he wrote.
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center temporarily suspended visitation. The hospital otherwise remained open with partial impacts to some operations, it said via Twitter. Surgical procedures had been canceled or postponed and some outpatient services were canceled.
A spokesman for University Hospital, the region's only designated Level 1 trauma center, said the hospital had implemented emergency conservation of water. It was providing bottled water for patients and limiting visitors. All clinic visits and elective procedures had been canceled "for the time being," and the spokesman said members of the public should refrain from coming for non-emergency purposes until the water situation was resolved.
Melham provided video of the break to Gothamist:
“I want to assure residents that we are testing and retesting the water supply system as often as possible and we haven’t detected the presence of any contaminants such as E. coli or fecal coliform," Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia said in an alert to residents. "Until the situation is resolved, the township will continue to sample and re-sample the water to verify that these contaminants have not been introduced into the potable water system."
Newark was asking anyone with a water emergency to call 973-733-3654, though some social media users responded to alerts from the city saying they were having trouble getting through. Newark also asked anyone with questions to call 973-733-4311. Bloomfield was asking residents with questions to call 973-680-4009.
The break came amid a heat wave that had already prompted a code red declaration from Newark. The city has opened several emergency shelters to provide overnight respite to residents who need it.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This story has been updated to include newer information about the state of repairs as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Tagged
newark
new jersey
bloomfield
Louis C. Hochman
After about two decades in (mostly) New Jersey-focused commercial print, digital and digital-but-radio-adjacent news, Lou stumbled into member-supported news in early 2021, as the editor and CEO of Montclair Local. There, he (hopes he) expanded enterprise, brought more sophistication to digital storytelling and moved the nonprofit newsroom closer to long-term financial sustainability. He helped lead the Local to its fourth consecutive General Excellence award from the New Jersey Press Association — the NJPA's highest honor with judges noting the paper's work to strip away layers of government opacity, to hold power to account, to make news accessible for more members of the community, to share the stories and concerns of more facets of the community and to tell compelling stories across multiple media. He's excited to continue the same ethic — news as a public service — at NYPR as the New Jersey and suburbs editor, drawing on the extraordinary talents of reporters including Karen Yi and Nancy Solomon. Lou lives in Philly (that commute!) with his partner and their two cats, about whom and about which he speaks incessantly.
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Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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