TEWKSBURY, Mass. — At the Lodge at Ames Pond apartment complex, it’s the holiday weekend that wasn’t.
“I started noticing some pressure changes Friday,” said resident Max Zdrada. “And I messaged the team at Lodge.”
That, it turns out, was an early warning of what was to come. By Saturday night, Zdrada’s apartment -- along with the more than 350 others in the Tewksbury complex -- had zero water pressure.
The culprit: the underground rupture of a water main running just outside the complex.
Water main breaks usually entail ripping up the road, taking out the bad pipe and putting in a new one. But not this time.
“We’re trying to figure out a better alternative to fix the pipe,” said Town Manager Richard Montuori.
The problem with a standard repair: the pipe runs near a concrete structure known as a box culvert. Late Tuesday, the town indicated water service would not likely be resumed in the complex until Friday. And the plan is not to replace the pipe -- but to run a bypass. A nearby neighborhood of single family homes on Catamount Road that also lost water should have service restored Tuesday -- because it’s small enough to run off booster pumps.
“Be patient with us,” Montuori said. “It’s obviously not something we planned for.”
But, in a way, residents have had no choice but to plan for the disruption -- based on past history.
“I’ve lived here a year and a half,” said Zdrada. “I think this is our fourth time that we’ve had a water pressure problem.”
Most recently, water service went out for a few hours over the July 4th weekend, according to several residents.
Tewksbury is bringing in emergency supplies of water in tankers that normally hold pool water. A DPW worker tells Boston 25 News each truck can legally haul 6,000 gallons. That water is piped into hydrants, which provides residents with a couple of minutes of water coming out of the faucet.
But the state Department of Environmental Protection issued a ‘boil water’ order this week -- for anything that does come out of the tap.
“There’s nothing to boil -- nothing,” said resident Mike Roche. “As the week goes on, more laundry builds up. I’m about to go with all the jugs -- go fill the jugs up.”
If the lack of water has any silver lining, it’s an appreciation for how much we depend on it for daily life.
“We’d like to shower, do dishes, flush the toilet when it’s appropriate,” said Zdrada. “Tensions are definitely high in my household as a result of this, unfortunately.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW