Several homes and parts of the Capitol were without running water for nearly 24 hours

SALT LAKE CITY — A water line was shut off on Main Street, near Apricot Avenue, Thursday afternoon after crews working on a sewer line became concerned about destabilizing a fire hydrant.

The water line serves 25 connections, mostly homes and parts of the Capitol building complex. The water was shut off from about 4:45 p.m. Thursday to 11:45 a.m. Friday.

Several residents were affected, including the family of Monika Gulla.

“We are out of water here. At first we thought we would get it back the same day and it got really hot, everyone knows that,” Gulla said.

The moment the water stopped

Gulla said she was cooking dinner when she realized the water had been turned off and her swamp cooler had stopped working.

“We called the city’s emergency line and spoke to someone there. He had no sympathy for us. He said, ‘It’s not our fault, it’s not a utility company, it’s a private contractor,'” Gulla said.

Gulla said she was concerned about the city’s response to the incident, including the lack of notice and the length of time the water was shut off, especially given the extreme temperatures and the elderly residents of her neighborhood, many of whom rely on swamp coolers to ventilate their homes.

“It was very hot. We couldn’t sleep,” Gulla said

They had to make do with bottled water and small fans. One of her granddaughters was sick and had to leave the house to find a public toilet.

Concerns about fire hydrants

The contractor, Elevation Plumbing, Heating and Air, who was hired by a homeowner to repair a sewer line said they were concerned about damaging a fire hydrant because of the sandy and unstable ground.

“I apologize, but with these types of jobs there are so many moving parts,” said Fernando Landin of Elevation Plumbing, Heating and Air.

Landin said they called the Salt Lake City Utilities Department for help and followed their advice to turn off the water.

“The city was not aware of this project… When we got involved, it was pretty late in the game. We had to turn the water off right away to minimize damage to homes,” said Chloe Morroni, communications and public engagement manager for the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities.

According to Morroni, the contractor had not informed them of the project, resulting in a lack of communication with the neighbors.

“In this case, as far as we can tell, they didn’t apply for the proper permits, so that didn’t happen, so those people didn’t get that notification,” Morroni said. “That’s why the permitting process is so critical. It gets the city involved in the whole process.”

Financially responsible

According to Morroni, the municipal services officially took over the sewer repair on Friday morning and the contractor will be held financially responsible.

“They will be billed for the time we spent on that,” Morroni said.

Under normal circumstances, Morroni residents would be given 48 hours’ notice of the water shutoff. When the work is being done by a private contractor, it is the contractor’s responsibility to inform residents. When the city is doing the work, it is the city’s responsibility to inform residents.

According to Morroni, companies are required to give 72 hours’ notice.

The only exception to this is an emergency, in which case Morroni says they do not need to inform residents.

“In such circumstances, it is all hands on deck to fix things,” Morroni said.

However, Landin denies the city’s claims that his company did not apply for and receive a permit for the project. Landin provided KSL-TV with several documents that show a permit was issued for the project. News Specialist Garna Mejia is reviewing that information and will update this article.

The Salt Lake City Public Utilities website has information about water outages. Click here to view this information.