Community Corner

Last Year's Water Emergency Result Of Structural Break

MWRA report blames stud failure and overload on May 1, 2010 water main break that affected Winchester and millions of residents in eastern Massachusetts.

According to a report released today by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), a progressive stud failure caused a water main break on May 1, 2010, which affected more than two-and-a-half million residents in Belmont and eastern Massachusetts.

The report placed the blame on "a progressive stud failure" in which increasing water pressure exceeded acceptable limits for the studs. The overload led to more cracks and some studs failing, which put even more pressure on the remaining studs.

It also questioned the stud's initial installation and the effects of rushing water on the reliability of the studs over time.

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All this led to complete stud failure, which in turn forced a so-called "blow out" of the O-rings present.

"Once the O-Rings became free, the leak rate — up to this point minimal — increased almost instantaneously to the rate observed," said the report.

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The report was authored by an independent panel, comprised of Zorica Pantic, chairman of the panel and President of the Wentworth Institute of Technology; Ronald G. Ballinger, a professor of nuclear science and engineering and material science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and John H. Bambei, Jr., Chief of Engineering at Denver Water.

Pictures in the report of studs found after the break showed them rusted and damaged, revealing small cracks at the top and thread roots.

The studs were provided by Victaulic, a pipe system company, and came in with pre-existing cracks. The MWRA staff felt the installation process did not go as smoothly as they would have liked.

The authors wrote the installation process for the studs, which was provided to the MWRA staff with a video from Victaulic, is "very specific" and does not mention in any documentation using two nuts in the installation. Studs that were located after the break were found to be double-nutted.

In addition, "log books describe a stud tightening process that occurred AFTER the initial installation which is allowed by the procedures but would have put an additional, and unknown, load on the studs. All of this suggests that additional load may have been applied to the studs that would not normally have been applied had the installation procedures been followed exactly," wrote the authors.

The Globe reported earlier this month that the MWRA is preparing to sue several companies for the main break.

Victaulic released a statement to the Globe at the time saying that the company has "consistently and openly communicated to the MWRA that the system failed due to multiple factors — factors that were under the planning, control and management of the MWRA."


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