Burst pipe during maintenance leaves city without water

By LORRAINE JIMAL and PHOEBE GWANGILO
MANY Port Moresby residents had their water supply disrupted over the weekend after a pipe burst during a routine maintenance work.
A statement from Water PNG warned of water rationing from noon Saturday. Most of areas in the city had their water supply restored last night.
Water PNG plumber Glemus Kalagi told The National last Saturday that they were incorrectly advised that the main tap from Mt Eriama had been closed so that they could repair a damaged valve.
Thinking that the pipe was dry, they went ahead and cut open the pipe.
“We are supposed to repair the damaged valve from the main trunk,” Kalagi said.
“We were taken off guard by the massive burst that almost took the life of one of our contractors in the process of cutting the pipe to fix the valve.”
Kalagi said they had to wait for the trunk to dry up to continue the work.