A 44-year-old water main failed beneath Welch Road early Monday, undermining an area of roadway roughly the size of three-quarters of an NBA basketball court, disrupting water service to about 200 homes and raising broader questions about aging infrastructure in a growing Apopka.
By late Monday afternoon, the immediate emergency was beginning to shift from repairing the pipe to rebuilding the road above it.
The City of Apopka said in a 5 p.m. update that repairs to the 12-inch water main were complete and water service had been restored to residents in the affected area.
Note: This map depicts the general area of this depression and not necessarily an exact location
News 6 has confirmed that the road has since reopened.
The break initially forced the closure of the eastbound lanes of Welch Road east of Rock Springs Road. The city said approximately 200 homes in the Parkview and Wekiva Glen subdivisions were affected.
Photos from the scene showed the scale of the damage: cracked and collapsed pavement surrounding a water-filled opening, with heavy equipment removing portions of the roadway as crews worked around the break.
But city officials told News 6 the damage extended farther than what could be seen from the surface.
About 60 feet by 60 feet of roadway undermined
In written answers provided to News 6, the city said approximately 60 feet by 60 feet of roadway was undermined.
That works out to about 3,600 square feet — roughly three-quarters of the playing surface of an NBA basketball court.
City officials said the westbound roadway was not considered undermined at the time they responded to News 6, although that side could still be affected by restoration work.
[RELATED: Welch Road shuts down as crews work on depression in Apopka]
The failed line was a 12-inch PVC water main installed around 1981, making it approximately 44 years old.
The city told News 6 the exact cause remained unknown and said the pipe’s age could be a factor. Officials also said they were not aware of previous failures involving that section of water main.
Nesta offered another possibility while speaking with News 6 at the scene. He said staff had told him significant rainfall may have contributed to the depression around the pipe, but he stopped short of identifying rainfall as the confirmed cause.
“I don’t know if it’s due to the infrastructure itself or just it happens with the lot of rain that we have,” Nesta said.
That distinction matters: the city has not established a final cause for the failure.
A 5 a.m. surprise for one neighbor
For Daniel Kuykendall, who has lived near Welch Road for nine years, the first indication something was wrong came well before sunrise.
Kuykendall told News 6 he was getting up around 5 a.m. to take his daughter to cross-country practice when unusually bright lights began shining through his kitchen window.
“I thought there was an alien invasion this morning at 5:00 AM,” he joked.
[RELATED: Depression shuts down Apopka road, city says]
What he was actually seeing were emergency vehicles gathering outside.
Kuykendall said that despite driving Welch Road for years, he had never noticed an obvious warning that something this significant was developing beneath it. He described the road as somewhat bumpy but said he had not noticed anything major.
The impact became much more apparent when he tried to use the water at home.
“No water,” Kuykendall told News 6 earlier Monday. “It was lawn day today, and as you can see, I decided not to do that because I can’t take a shower right now.”
Video Kuykendall provided to News 6 showed his faucet producing only a small amount of water as the system dealt with the break.
The city said the approximately 200 affected homes were in Parkview and Wekiva Glen. Officials also told News 6 some nearby businesses experienced low water pressure.
By 5 p.m., the city said service had been restored to the affected area.
What about a boil-water advisory?
Earlier in the day, the city told News 6 it anticipated issuing a precautionary boil-water advisory, and Kuykendall said he was instructed to boil his water.
Apopka’s Water Resources guidance explains that precautionary notices are commonly issued after emergency repairs or system shutdowns cause a loss of water pressure. The city says the loss of pressure creates the possibility that contaminants could enter a water line, so customers are instructed to take precautions while testing is completed. A boil-water notice does not by itself mean contamination has been found.
According to the city’s guidance, when a precautionary notice is issued, customers should boil tap water used for drinking or cooking. The city says such notices generally remain in effect for at least two days while two bacteriological samples are collected and tested.
News 6 has not seen an official notice from the city saying a precautionary advisory related to Monday’s break has been lifted, so affected customers should follow the most recent instructions provided directly by the city.
Break renews questions about aging infrastructure
Monday’s repairs may solve the immediate problem on Welch Road, but both the mayor and residents News 6 spoke with said the failure raises a larger question: How does the city identify aging infrastructure before it becomes an emergency?
Nesta acknowledged those concerns when News 6 asked what the failure of a roughly 44-year-old water main means for other infrastructure around Apopka.
“We were established in 1882, so we’re gonna have some aging infrastructure,” Nesta said. “It’s just more stuff that we need to get ahead of and prioritize.”
Apopka’s official history says the city was incorporated in 1882.
Kuykendall said his concern is amplified by the amount of development and population growth he sees around the city.
“The infrastructure is definitely aging,” he said. “If you don’t have the infrastructure or the planning and the foresight to handle that influx of people, then we’re gonna run into issues like this.”
He said he wants the city to balance maintaining older systems with preparing for future growth.
“Our crews seem to be very fast and efficient, so I’m appreciative of that,” Kuykendall said. “I just wanna make sure that we have a plan going forward to fix aging areas as well as to expand.”
Mayor says city will look at age of infrastructure
Nesta told News 6 the city needs to take a proactive approach rather than waiting for aging infrastructure to fail.
“Being proactive is gonna save us money in the long run,” Nesta said. “If we know where maybe an aging area of concern is, we can get ahead of it.”
The mayor said that means identifying the age of infrastructure throughout the city and using that information to plan future priorities.
“We’re gonna be having crews out to make sure that we understand the age of all of our infrastructure and we can start to plan from there,” Nesta said.
He called Monday’s break a reminder of the importance of maintaining the city’s water system.
“Water’s our most important asset that we have,” Nesta said, adding that the city needs to ensure its infrastructure meets residents’ expectations.
Why Orange County is involved in the road repair
Although the broken water main is part of Apopka’s utility system, the affected portion of Welch Road is county-maintained.
Orange County transportation records identify Welch Road from Rock Springs Road to North Thompson Road as a county-maintained roadway.
That is why the city told News 6 that Orange County roadway officials would monitor the temporary restoration and that contractors would complete the final roadway work to county specifications.
The city’s repair plan called for its Utility Department to replace the broken section of pipe and temporarily restore the affected roadway before contractors completed the final restoration.
For the city’s latest alerts on the Welch Road repair, viewers can check the official City of Apopka alert page. City of Apopka Welch Road water-main alert