Why did a '100-year' pipe in Auburn Hills fail after 50?

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Major progress to report right now repairing the water main break that put thousands under a boil water advisory in northern Oakland County.

[00:00:07]>> But tonight, the investigators at Local 4 are asking tough questions about why this pipe broke when it was supposed to last another 50 years. Thanks for joining us at 6. I'm Ty Steel.

[00:00:17]>> Good evening. I'm Karen Drew. The 42in pipe over in Auburn Hills Riverwoods Park has been replaced, filled, pressure tested, and disinfected. Flushing of the section of pipe is set to be completed today.

[00:00:30]>> Now, the Great Lakes Water Authority says the goal here is to have water pressure restored by Thursday. However, that doesn't mean the boil water advisory will be lifted right away.

[00:00:39]Also, Lake Oran Community Schools will be closed through Thursday. And if you live in Orient Township, Lake Oran, or Northern Auburn Hills, you should continue to limit your water use to assist the process.

[00:00:50]>> Now, despite that progress, questions remain. And tonight, the investigators at Local 4 are digging into what went wrong.

[00:00:56]>> Yeah. Was this just a bad luck or a red flag? Lauren Costic joining us live tonight in Auburn Hills. And Lauren, at least they got the pipe fixed.

[00:01:05]>> Yeah, guys, that really is the good news is that new pipe, it is in behind me and it is working. But now the question is why did that old one fail? We are told it was built to last a hundred years, but it broke after 50. And now we're being told that there are 80 miles of that same type of pipe underground.

[00:01:25]A major milestone Tuesday after a massive water mane break in Auburn Hills. The old pipe is out and the new one is in. But now the investigation really begins. What caused this pipe to burst? We know on May 6th, crews found a leak and started working to reroute the water. Then on May 10th, that 42inch water mane ruptured, impacting five communities and triggering a state of emergency. Local 4 has learned the broken pipe was a transmission man about 25 ft underground. It's called a pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe and was installed in 1975, roughly 50 years ago. But here's the problem. The pipe was designed to last a hundred years. So what went wrong? We took that question straight to the CEO of GLWA. With the older pipe, it obviously aged much faster than it should have. Can you explain why that is? There are experts in this type of pipe. This is a highly engineered pipe. It shouldn't be breaking like this. We've seen it here.

[00:02:24]We've seen it elsewhere. We need to understand what is exactly happening and how it is that we're dealing with these pipes.

[00:02:30]>> And this is a big deal. GLWA oversees 800 miles of transmission mains. 10% are made of this material. That's 80 miles.

[00:02:40]And the price tag is staggering. $20 million for just one mile. That's about $1.6 billion to replace all of it.

[00:02:49]>> And it's $1.6 billion we don't have. And we're also a governmental agency. We're a public body corporate. We don't have profit. We are going to have to invest in our water infrastructure.

[00:03:00]>> There's a good chance this could happen in other communities.

[00:03:02]>> It could happen. It could happen.

[00:03:06]And because of that, I'm told they will be ramping up inspections, also more monitoring of those types of pipes. As for the one that was put in behind me, I'm told that is a high pressurized steel state-of-the-art as of right now.

[00:03:19]That old one is currently being shipped to a lab to be inspected. Live in Auburn Hills, Lauren Costik, Local 4.

[00:03:25]>> A lot of questions. Thanks for asking him, Lauren.