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Police closed off the block of Hearst Avenue between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street on Wednesday afternoon when a cast iron water main broke and water leaked out onto the street. 

Reynold Bray, a crew foreman for East Bay Municipal Utility District, said his department was called about 12:30 p.m. to fix the broken six-inch pipe. After almost three hours EBMUD crews had pumped enough water out of the hole dug by a company backhoe to find and repair the leak. 

One crew member down in the approximately five-foot-deep pit around the leaky part of the pipe bent over and held a mirror in front of him that allowed him to see the two-inch hole. 

Bray estimated it was likely the hole could be repaired with a clamp. The cast iron water main that runs about three and one-half feet below the pavement is old pipe, he said. “It’s in an old part of town.” 

He said after the leak was reported, the crews pinpointed the site of the leak by the sound it makes, then the small section was excavated and drained. 

“We dig up the street, put it back together and do the final paving,” Bray said.