LARAMIE – A water main break at the corner of North 19th and Hancock Streets in Laramie has been fixed, but the hole in the street may take a while.

City of Laramie Utility Superintendent Paul Beckett told LaramieLive.com that the water main break was detected Thursday, May 23. City crews dug right in and fixed the leaky main by Friday so as not to affect area residents and their water supply.

“The problem is that we have had so much rain and snow, the ground is saturated,” Beckett said. “Besides that, the whole area is built on low, marshy ground. The groundwater goes way up in the spring. But there is so much rainwater in the ground, we can’t compact the fill, so we have to wait for it to dry out more before we can backfill and fix the street.”

Water must first be pumped out and the hole left to dry before utility crews can backfill the affected area of 19th and Hancock streets. (LaramieLive photos/TOM KOCAL)
Water must first be pumped out and the hole left to dry before utility crews can backfill the affected area of 19th and Hancock streets. (LaramieLive photos/TOM KOCAL)
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Beckett hoped that by pumping water out of the hole, and with the weather warming up, crews could possibly get at the project Saturday - or based on the photo taken Thursday, May 30 – by the first of next week, which seems much more likely. Two days ago, the water was pumped completely out of the hole. Today, it was full again, nearly to street level.

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