Exactly a month ago, residents living near Beard and Rowan streets woke up to massive flooding caused by a water main break.
As recovery efforts continue, many are questioning if something similar could happen in their neighborhood.
Sam Smalley, deputy director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), confirmed that the risk remains due to the aging infrastructure, with the average age of water assets being 95 years.
In the aftermath of the break, Gabriela Moreno shared how her mother’s home was affected.
The family describes the house shaking as if an explosion or earthquake happened.
After three and a half weeks, Rosa Moreno was able to return, but the family was still dealing with the consequences.
“We’ve been told this is the type of damage seen in abandoned houses,” Gabriela Morena said.
“But we’ve been there for 13 years,” said Gabriela. “There’s no possible way that this happened because the house wasn’t being maintained, or it was, you know, vacant. We’ve been there for 13 years, and then also we don’t have electricity in our kitchen, so everything else has electricity, except for the kitchen. So, we don’t know, you know, what’s really going on.”
The basement developed cracks and uneven flooring after taking in water, and they are awaiting an assessment of the cracked foundation. Sometimes, water seeps through the jagged lines.
Gabriela expressed gratitude for the community support, particularly from volunteers like Jimmy Rios, who have been instrumental in providing necessities and updates.
Rios, a plumber turned volunteer, has been actively involved since day one, using social media to coordinate efforts and communicate with residents in both English and Spanish.
“The homeowners here – even the ones who haven’t had installs – they feel a sense of optimism just to see and feel – you can feel, you can feel it – the movement and the progress," said Rios. “It’s a sensation you can feel as it’s happening.”
DWSD has an asset management program that evaluates the risk of failure based on the consequences and probability of failure. The program prioritizes critical infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and public transit routes.
Smalley said it’s possible when asked about the likelihood of something similar happening again.
“Unfortunately, yes,” said Smalley. “The short answer is yes because the average age of our assets is 95 years old on the waterside and a little bit older on the sewer side.”
Around 2017, the department developed the Capital Improvement Program Management Office.
According to officials, the office brought in some outside help to teach the team while developing best practices to efficiently spend funding.
“What we’re doing is we’re going neighborhood by neighborhood, doing comprehensive inspection and assessment of both the water and sewer systems,” Smalley said. “So, we look at the consequence of failure times the probability of failure. The consequence of failure: is it near a hospital? Is it near a school? Is it near a major bus route? What are the impacts if this asset fails, and then the probability of failure, we look at historical data. How many breaks has that asset had? What was it made of? There’s different materials and water systems, and sewer systems. Some are more prone to breaking or failure than others. So, we’re looking at all of that data.”
Deputy Director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Sam Smalley
Smalley explained how they determine the highest-risk areas. Later, they do comprehensive inspections and assessments to get more information.
“What we do is we usually rehabilitate or replace about 25% of that which we do comprehensive inspection and assessment, and we’re going across the entire city, neighborhood by neighborhood, in that manner,' Smalley said.
So far, the city has hit over 20 neighborhoods.
Recently, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he’s not sure if water agencies can do more than what they’re doing now, which is prioritizing where they think the bigger problems are in water mains and sewer lines, he said.
The formerly ruptured water main belongs to the Great Lakes Water Authority.
As the Detroit Water and Sewage Department and GLWA assess water and sewer systems, some city leaders believe a nationwide problem of aging infrastructure is going to require a nationwide solution.
For the Morenos, they need an answer now.
“We’re just concerned about the ground is pretty frozen right now, so with the summer coming up, you know, the dirt is going to loosen up what’s going to be affected,” Gabriela said.
--> Water transmission main that burst, flooded SW Detroit neighborhood has been repaired, says GLWA
