By Albert Amateau
A Con Edison high-pressure gas main completed last year in Chelsea was discovered to have a leak last week during a test before the pipe was put into use.
The hole in the pipe beneath W. 15th St. was discovered on Tues. April 27 between Sixth and Seventh Aves. when the city Department of Environmental Protection was alerted about what appeared to be a water-main leak.
But it proved to be water that was introduced into the gas main for the test. “We were conducting an integrity test of a section of the pipe which is not yet in use,” said Chris Olert, a Con Edison spokesperson. “We still don’t know how the pipe was damaged,” Olert said on May 4.
Con Edison crews began replacing a section of the pipe on Wednesday and finished most of the work at the end of the week. For a few hours on Tuesday, D.E.P. reduced water pressure on the block until the source of the water was found to be from the gas main test.
Residents of W. 15th St. said that workers at the site surmised that a private plumbing contractor working in the street in front of 132 W. 15th St. had damaged the gas main, but Con Edison did not confirm the report.
Nevertheless, Olert said that any private contractor doing work in the streets should phone Con Edison at 800-272-4480 “to find out what’s in the street.”
Residents of W. 15th St. recalled that the 20-inch high-pressure gas main project began in 2001 and involved the excavation of one side of the street between Fifth and 10th Aves.
“Our block associations were concerned that the pipe was being put through one of the most heavily populated residential streets in Chelsea along side an asbestos-covered steam pipe, all on a street repeatedly used as a service route as well as a detour for 14th St. buses and trucks,” said Stanley Bulbach, president of the 15th St. 200 Block Association between Seventh and Eighth Aves.
Bulbach noted that there are at least two street fairs proposed for W. 14th St. between Seventh and Eighth Aves. in the coming months.
Ross Horowitz, a resident of W. 15th St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves., said last week that the high-pressure gas main was a potential problem for the street. “If there were a gas main explosion several blocks could be wiped out in the blink of an eye,” Horowitz said.
