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It's the peak of summer and the peak for water consumption. That means a busy time for Wichita Public Works as it repairs water main breaks across the city.
“People are using a lot more water and therefore there's a lot of water going through the distribution systems,” said Wichita Public Works assistant director Joe Pajor.
Combined with heat, it's a lot of pressure for water pipes to handle.
“This particular pipe because of the material its made from is very strong, but very rigid. So when the soil moves the pipe is not going to have any give to it,” said Pajor.
That's when water mains break city wide. Crews responded to one Wednesday before noon at Harry & Webb. That was one of eight they had to deal with Wednesday. Another in a neighborhood near South Webb impacted 22 homes. Crews say the breaks are inevitable and not much can be done to prevent them.
“It's just a part of being in the environment that we're in and the different soils we have in Wichita and the climatic condition that we have. In the middle of the summer and in the middle of the winter it's the worst,” said Pajor.
Last summer they fixed over 100 and they're on track to do a very similar number this year. It’s keeping crews busy patching pipes, and filling in holes across the city.
Last year from June through July 18th the city said there were 107 breaks. This year through today there have been 83.