As previously reported, SF made some strides toward helping the victims of the West Portal water main break. However, as ABC7 reports, the city overlooked one very large detail when attempting to turn the water back on to two already seriously damaged homes.

That detail was the fact that they shouldn’t have turned the water on at all. Typical protocol dictates that a water meter be locked after it is shut off after an issue like this. Though emergency contractors initially came by to turn off the homes’ water, it appears that the city failed to lock the meters themselves.

Just yesterday, a restoration company had to be called to the scene to clean up the damage caused by the city’s blunder. One resident told ABC7 that their water had been on for three days, though the city says that time was much shorter.

According to the SFPUC, the additional water leaking into those homes didn’t worsen the sinkhole caused by the water main break, which is a small relief.

the author

Always in motion. April Siese writes about music, takes photos at shows, and even helps put them on behind the scenes as a stagehand. She's written everything from hard news to beauty features, as well as fiction and poetry. She most definitely likes pie.

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