The big hole at 9th Avenue and Eudora Street has been filled, and the 30-inch pipe that burst and caused last week's problems to begin with is getting fixed. But residents at an apartment building next door to the water line break are still dealing with a broken boiler and damaged cars after the break flooded the building's garage.
Since the break early Thursday morning, the city has been paying for hotel rooms, transportation and $75 per day for meals for affected residents, who lost heat in their building. The accommodations will continue through Thursday at the earliest.
The city will not cover insured property damage, so residents with insured cars or storage units in the flooded garage should go through their insurance company. But Denver does have an assistance program for residents affected by water breaks, which includes money for uninsured property and up to $1,000 for insurance deductibles.
Denver Water does not yet have an estimate on how much the break is costing the city, or how much water was lost. And while the city has filled the hole, Denver Water says it's still working on maintenance in the area, which could cause intermittent closures around 9th Avenue and Eudora St.
Denver Water said that the city installed the pipe in the 1920s, and that age, corrosive soil, water flow, temperature and other factors can cause breaks like the one on Thursday. The city replaces more than 100,000 feet of pipe per year and plans to raise that figure and invest over $2 billion in the next decade toward pipe upgrades and maintenance.
