NEW JERSEY – The City of Hoboken intends to sue utility PSE&G and a contractor over a crippling water main break that interrupted service for virtually the entire week, forcing a hospital evacuation and causing “substantial difficulties” to the community.

Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla thanked residents for their patience in an email update on Friday, saying the city had sent a notice to PSE&G stating it intended to recover damages suffered at the aftermath of the utility company’s alleged “apparent negligence” in the underground construction. work.

Bhalla said Hoboken’s legal department instructed the utility to retain all documents and evidence related to its construction work. He also said PSE&G construction on the gas line improvements has been put on hold until city engineers have reviewed the plans and find them suitable, and additional safeguards have been put in place. .

“To say that the past week has been difficult for our community is an understatement,” the email from Bhalla read. “I remain extremely disappointed that we have been put in this position to begin with, due to circumstances beyond our control, which have caused our city considerable hardship. We intend to hold PSE&G accountable for their actions.”

The problem began around noon on Monday when a PSE&G contractor accidentally hit the water main while working on an unrelated gas pipeline project.

Veolia, the company that supplies Hoboken’s water, said the force from the break penetrated two pipelines or pipe interconnections. Water was mostly restored overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, with Veolia saying the water was safe to drink, but the state environmental department still issued a boil water advisory.

It was also problematic, Bhalla said.

“My administration is also working to gather all relevant facts and information regarding Veolia, as we intend to simultaneously hold them accountable for their very clear failure to seek a boil water advisory in time, which has also had a detrimental effect on our residents,” I read Bhalla’s email. “This major shortcoming should not be confused with the hard work of the Veolia teams on site, who did an admirable job of working around the clock to isolate the broken water pipe as quickly as possible.”

“As we move forward, we will continue to work diligently to review all protocols with our utilities to help mitigate the risk of unnecessary infrastructure failures due to repeated human error,” he continued. .

Neither PSE&G nor Veolia could immediately be reached for an updated comment on Friday afternoon.

Yolanda Vásquez with New Jersey details.

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