A contractor reportedly responsible for a burst water main that snarled traffic and left thousands without water in McLean Thursday morning is set to meet with Falls Church officials next week to discuss the cause of the incident.
Crews from Forestville, Md.-based Flippo Construction, a prolific regional contractor with major projects in the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia, appear to have struck the 16-inch pipe early that morning, said Falls Church spokeswoman Nicole Gobbo.
The accident took place on the site of the Scotts Run Pumping Station at Route 123 and Old Meadow Road. Flippo is the contractor for a $2.5-million project to move the station underground.
Falls Church provides water service to 34,000 clients, about 90 percent of whom are in Fairfax County. The city has not yet quantified the number of homes and businesses who lost water for a few hours that morning, Gobbo said.
An executive with Flippo referred all questions on the matter back to the city. The firm, which also has an office in Alexandria, has performed work on the D.C. Convention Center, the Pentagon, Redskins Stadium and bridge replacements on Interstate 66, according to its Web site.
Gobbo said the meeting next week, which has no firm date at this point, will address “what happened, why it happened and any appropriate course of action that we need to take.”
The financial impact of the accident, which shut down some businesses for part of the day, has not yet been calculated.
Mayor Robin Gardner said she and the City Council expect a report following the meeting with city staff and Flippo.
“Anytime there is an accident like that, it is a concern,” Gardner said.
