Chicago company here to plug broken city waterline

YOUNGSTOWN — The city finally found a company to stop the flow of millions of gallons of water from a break in one of its two largest waterlines.

Hydro-Stop sent a crew from its Chicago office late Thursday to Youngstown to insert a large vinyl plug in the 36-inch pipe on Marshall Street on the lower West Side, said Eugene Leson Jr., the city water department’s chief engineer.

The crew arrived shortly after 9 a.m. today and is expected to be done plugging the break by Saturday afternoon, he said.

The city called three companies that specialize in plugging large waterline leaks, and Hydro-Stop was the only one that could come immediately, Leson said.

The cost for Hydro-Stop isn’t known, but the city had no choice because millions of gallons of water continued to pour out of the line, Leson said. Until the leak is stopped, repairs can’t be done, he said.

Once Hydro-Stop is finished, Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Inc., a Youngstown company, will make the necessary repairs to the line. Leson said he doesn’t know the cost for the work to be done by Marucci & Gaffney.

The line, one of the city’s two 36-inch major water pipes, broke about 1:40 p.m. Wednesday, flooding Marshall Street behind the Youngstown Maennerchor building that fronts Mahoning Avenue. The top of an elbow joint separated from the pipe.

Water Commissioner John Casciano said Thursday that about 4 million to 6 million gallons of water was lost. Leson said today water continued to leak from the pipe and while the lost amount isn’t yet known, it will be more than 6 million gallons.

The repair work could cost about $100,000, water officials say.