NEW ORLEANS -- A sizable leak is causing irritation for drivers and pedestrians in the Central Business District.
The flow from a broken underground pipe on South Rampart Street poured through cracks in the street making a wide section of asphalt crumble, forming a pothole that vehicles often could not avoid.
"It's about three weeks, and when the trucks are right there, I have to like swerve around it, and for some reason the water is coming up through the sidewalk, which is odd to me," said Michael Mericle.
Water flowing from the crack in the sidewalk joined the stream from the street to form a pool in the gutter, making pedestrians vulnerable to being splashed.
"I've been coming down here, and this is horrible. Your car goes into the potholes," said Reba Confrey. "I feel like the city really doesn't want new businesses down here, that's how I feel. I just think it is a shame that we're not trying to fix these things so that more people will come down here, and like it."
WWL-TV got in touch with the Sewerage and Water Board (S&WB), and they went to work on this situation quickly.
"We got on that right away,” Joe Becker with S&WB said. “We found out that there was a leaking service connection for that particular building. The main (pipe) was a 20-inch main, which is one of the larger pipes that we have in the city."
At first, they thought it would be a huge repair project, but after digging, they found the break in a much smaller two-inch pipe, and it was a simple repair.
"On this particular pipe, we were able to put a clamp on that two-inch service, and put the main back in service," said Becker.
Four days later, the leak is no more.