Quick thinking residents and sensitive leak detection equipment at Joshua Basin Water District sent repair crews scrambling last Sunday. Here’s reporter Mike Lipsitz to tell us what all the fuss was about…
For residents in the neighborhood north and west of the old Joshua Tree Airport water pressure plummeted shortly after 5 p.m. last Sunday while around the corner near 4th Street and Sunever Road water from a 16-inch main pipeline gushed onto the sand. Closer to town, a flood of calls poured into the water district just as the rapidly dropping pressure triggered the alarm on the district’s telemetry system. For the emergency crew it was clear they were dealing with a major break most likely on the district’s older pipeline. The crew and an impressive array of heavy equipment were dispatched to the area to stop the leak and replace the bad pipe. It would take a full nine hours, until 2:30 a.m. Monday, for crews to restore normal operations.
