Urban Geyser

An urban geyser sprang up between the cracks in the sidewalk on Ninth Street Monday morning.

About twelve two-inch tall fountains of water squirted out of a 10-sidewalk block area due to a broken fire line in front of the building between Third and Second avenues.

The fire line broke at around 9:37 a.m., but since it was such a “routine leak” the Fire Department was not needed, FDNY officials said.

Traffic was not affected, but people walking along the sidewalk stopped to watch the morning flow gushing out from the ground.

“Now that’s what I call a city water fountain,” a passerby said. 

The leak will be fixed by a plumber hired by the building owners, Department of Environmental Protection officials said.

Although the leak’s proportions (or lack there of) were not even close to a real geyser, which are naturally occurring springs located near active volcanic areas that are characterized by a series of intense and sometimes violent bursts of water ejected out of the earth and into the sky, it was still a pretty phenomenon. 

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