Work Completed on Fixing Water Main

Workers replaced the last bit of shattered median curb in Simi Valley on Thursday as they wrapped up work to replace a burst water main that fractured Madera Road and flooded west-end streets March 29.

They spent nearly two weeks replacing 40 feet of 5 1/2-foot-wide pipeline with tough, new steel, spraying the whole assembly with cement and filling in the trench that had choked southbound traffic.

And after repaving the street Wednesday, contractors for the Calleguas Municipal Water District were finishing up, ahead of deadline, said Bill Golubics, Simi Valley traffic engineer.

“After the asphalt cures for approximately two weeks, the final pavement striping will be replaced,” he said Thursday.

“All lanes were open to traffic as of yesterday morning. It went very well, and we had extremely good cooperation among the contractors retained by the Calleguas Water District and all the city resources that were involved.”

Workers for CalFon Engineering & Construction also put the finishing touches Thursday, near Wood Ranch Golf Course, on repairs to a 20-foot section of line that triggered the break.

A contractor’s error in drilling through that pipe caused Calleguas to shut down valves feeding the main March 29. When power to water pumps failed, 8 million gallons of water dumped out of branch lines and into the main.

This “water hammer” surged down the main, slammed into a closed valve and blasted a 10-foot-long hole in the concrete-cased pipe, flooding the streets for several hours.

“The repairs went well,” said Donald Kendall, Calleguas general manager.

Kendall said water customers should notice no change in service when the line is reopened next week.

“It’ll be transparent,” he said of the changeover for customers who now are receiving water through other lines.

The bills are not in, but the job is estimated to have cost $100,000 to $200,000, which the district is trying to recover through insurance claims, he said.