Last Saturday, customers reported a water leak on Sharon Oaks Drive. The Menlo Park Municipal Water District’s 24/7 on call water staff responded and identified problem. Our aging water system has many pipes over 60 years old and water breaks of varying size occur on a regular basis. Currently, the water district has two full time maintenance workers responsible for system operations and maintenance of approximately 60 miles of water pipes. They also manage 1 pump station, 2 reservoirs and over 4,300 water meters. Due to limited staff, crews must prioritize water main failures and repairs, which often cannot be repaired immediately. This location was determined to be a lower priority leak and therefore scheduled for repair during regular work hours later in the week. Crews responded to the site, temporarily shut off the water and excavated the street. Water service was restored to the residence that afternoon. 

Crews were only able to repair this leak after prioritizing it and receiving assistance from other Public Works Department divisions including Streets, Fleet and Parks. This meant those divisions had to suspend their regularly scheduled work. Working together, City staff kept the water flowing in Menlo Park.