The broken pipe is on the left of the Thang Long Boulevard, on the way from the center of Hanoi to Son Tay town. The broken pipe is about 2 m long, 1.6 m diameter, deep underground. 

The Clean Water Investment and Construction Corporation (Viwaco) mobilized about 30 workers and a lot of machines to troubleshoot the incident.

The corporation’s director, Mr. Nguyen Anh Viet, said the incident was caused by the subsidence of the Thang Long Boulevard, plus the great pressure of water. The company had to stop water supply to about 70,000 households in the districts of Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay, Tu Liem and Thanh Tri. The incident also affected the people in many wards in the district of Dong Da.

This is the second time the water pipeline from the Da River to Hanoi has broken after 6 years of operation. In February 2012, this 1.6 m diameter pipeline was ruptured, making a hole adjacent to the main lane of the Thang Long Avenue. Around 40,000 households in Hanoi lost water because of this incident. The reason is the subsidence of the Thang Long Avenue.

At 9pm on March 24, the broken pipe was fixed and water supply is expected to resume this morning, March 25.

"We apologize to customers for the force majeure. We have tried to repair the pipeline to bring fresh water for people in two days, five days less than the previous incident", Mr. Anh Viet said.

Viwaco estimates that the cost of repairing the pipe and the amount of water lost due to the incident at VND2 billion ($200,000). 

Vietnamnet