The Great Broadway Pump Failure
An experimental city attempt to save money by shutting down the Broadway pump station ends in a burst main and a chaotic emergency repair.
In an attempt to economize, city officials decided to test whether the Broadway water pump station could be retired in favor of the Lake Washington station. The test proved disastrous. When the Broadway station closed, the Lake Washington plant struggled to maintain the necessary pressure, causing the pipes to burst at Seventh and Alder streets, near the courthouse. The main cracked the earth, producing a result like a dynamite blast. Broadway pumps were immediately restarted to restore service while crews undertook urgent repairs. Officials estimate the experiment would have cost more in coal consumption at the Lake Washington station than by simply keeping the Broadway station operational.
“When it burst it cracked the earth on either side for a long distance and burst up like a discharge of dynamite.”
This is a quintessential Seattle civic argument: the tension between municipal efficiency and the practical realities of a growing city's infrastructure. The 'Broadway pump' story echoes today’s ongoing debates over infrastructure maintenance costs versus the risks of centralizing municipal services.
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