On March 23, the main underground pipeline supplying water from Da River in Hoa Binh Province to Hanoi burst along Thang Long Avenue, which caused about 70,000 households in the southwest of Hanoi to go without water for their daily use.
The Clean Water Investment and Construction Corporation (Viwaco) sent about 30 workers, heavy machinery and equipment to fix the problem.
The company had to stop water supply to about 70,000 households in Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay, Tu Liem and Thanh Tri Districts. The incident also affected people in many wards in Dong Da District.
A technician of Viwaco said the incident was caused by the subsidence of the Thang Long Boulevard, plus the great pressure of water.
This is the second time the water pipeline from the Da River to Hanoi has burst within six years of operations. In February 2012, the pipeline was ruptured, making a hole adjacent to the main lane of Thang Long Avenue. Around 40,000 households in Hanoi went without water because of this incident. The reason was the subsidence of Thang Long Avenue.
At 9pm on March 24, the burst pipeline was repaired and water supply resumed to normal on March 25.
Viwaco apologized to customers for the inconvenience and estimates that the cost of repairing the pipe and the amount of water lost due to the incident is about VND2 billion (US$200,000).
