This is one of a few questions regarding this issue. This question
primarily questions the construction, erosion issues.

My house flooded and the cause was a Watermain break. I have
significant damages to my house including a cracked basement floor,
basement foundation, sunken driveway, and a damaged inground pool.

I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin, if this helps. Here is a short
description of the flood.

Feb 11, 2003 (It was -4 degrees)

At 8:00 am a school bus turned around in the cul de sac outside my
home. I believe the watermain broke at this time. The water main broke
completely and began tunneling under the frost line under the driveway
and front yard then up to the foundation of the house.  It  moved
along the side of the house and chose a spot directly under the
dryer's vent to blow to the surface.  The water flooded out of the
ground formed a mini lake in the front yard and flooded into the
basement three ways.

1. Over the east wall
2. In through a storm window on the south side
3. In through the back door

The water filled a winterized 9,000 gallon pool (1/2 to 1/3 emptied
for winter), it then flooded into my walk out basement in through the
back door. It also flooded down the hill and took out a room in a
neighbor's home about 300 feet away.

The carpeting, the walls, and the ceiling tiles all need to be
replaced. My basement is approximately 1700 sq feet. The estimates for
the interior damages range around 35,000 dollars the concrete flat
work for the foundation repair and the driveway range around 15,000
dollars. The pool is going to be about 9,000 dollars as all of the
deck work has cracked. Finally the landscaping is going to be another
3-6,000 dollars depending upon the extent of the sink hole that used
to be my front yard.

The water line in the short street that I live on has broke a number
of times. About eight times in the last 5 years. It has been dug up
infront of each residence. The water main has flooded this property
twice seriously and my neighbors seriously about eight years ago.

I've been told that they fixed the breaks using collars and that may
explain why it breaks so often. There must be a lot of collars on this
stretch of pipe.

I'd like some technical data regarding watermains. If a watermain were
to break completely and flood for say two hours, how much water would
spill and what sort of soil displacement could someone expect?

If a road is built not up to current construction codes what are the
responsibilities of a repair crew reporting it? What sort of
negligence could I look for?

Recently a large sinkhole appeared and I took pictures of the road
bed. It appears to be gravel on a clay surface with about 6 inches of
asphalt on top. The road has no gutters.

Any construction like advice would be wonderful. I'm going to
interview the workers and I would love to have some great questions to
ask them. I'll tip for good questions.