Winter’s tough on pipes
By Lily Magurno
COLONIE — Aging pipes and cold weather combined to keep Latham’s Water District crews busy the past few weeks, with a surge of water main breaks.
The water main breaks this winter have affected several residential neighborhoods, including more recently Oakland Avenue, Valley View Avenue, and Loudon Road.
“The main thing that causes [the breaks] is the age of the pipes,” said Dan Seaver, Superintendent of the Division of Latham Water. “Some of our first pipes are 95 or 96 years old.”
The Latham Water District has 445 miles of pipe. Part of the issue, according to Seaver, is the old pipes are made of cast iron, which are not as strong as their modern ductile iron counterparts. Ductile has been used since 1974.
“Cast iron is a very brittle iron and is prone to water main breaks,” said Seaver. “Poor installation can be an issue too. They didn’t know what we know today.”
According to Seaver, there were 172 water main breaks in 2024. In the past month, with temperatures dipping into the single digits, the district has experienced 62 breaks.
Seaver recalled the year 2015 when the lowest temperature in Albany reached negative 12.
“If you go back to 2015 which was a very cold winter, we had 230 water main breaks,” Seaver said.
Crews have been working to fix the breaks quickly and efficiently, according to Seaver. It takes an average of 8 hours to fix a break, but it can take longer when the work is more complicated.
Seaver said the installation of new pipes includes preventative methods to decrease the number of breaks in the future. Newly installed pipes are wrapped in poly wrap, which protects them from corrosion.
Latham Water District has been keeping close track of all breaks and sending out updates. Seaver praised the town for their vigilance in updating residents.
“By doing that we’re raising public awareness of water main breaks,” he said.
Lily Magurno is a UAlbany Journalism student participating in the SUNY Institute for Local News initiative to help community journalism.
