Busted water pipe spews 40,000 gallons on Rio Road

By The News Virginian Staff

Published: May 22, 2008

A geyser of 40,000 gallons of murky water blasted out of a hole at the intersection of U.S. 29 and East Rio Road on Thursday afternoon.

A construction crew accidentally severed a water pipe under Rio Road, causing water to shoot up to 15 feet in the air.

The crew was boring a tunnel under the road to install a gas line as part of a shopping complex being built at the southeast corner of the U.S. 29-Rio intersection. During the operation, the drill bit hit a 2-inch water pipe.

The accident shut down water service to a SunTrust bank branch, officials said.

The pipe break created a river of muddy water that flowed downward through much of the Albemarle Square shopping center’s parking lot.

One construction worker was sitting nearby in his pickup with the window down. When the drill nicked the underground pipe, a wave of brown water shot out of the hole and arced directly into his truck. His white shirt was covered in mud stains.

The project’s foreman said the water pipe had not been marked and that the accident was not his crew’s fault.

The pipe broke at around 1:30 p.m. and the water was shut off just before 2 p.m. As the water dried in the Albemarle Square parking lot, it left streams of thick mud that looked like milk chocolate.

“This happens two or three times a year,” said Mike Lynn, an Albemarle County Service Authority operations supervisor, as he stood in the hole. “Some years it happens more than others.”