Just two weeks into the new year, the city of Hoboken dealt with a second water main break.
Hoboken resident Dave Lohmann documented the break on his Twitter account early Sunday morning as workers tried to contain the steady stream of water near Second Street and Clinton Avenue.
"Woke up to a water main break at 2nd and Clinton. Hoboken water delivery infrastructure off to a great start in 2017!" he tweeted, ending the tweet with a sarcastic eye roll emoji.
The city alerted residents early Saturday of the water main break and said it affected pressure throughout much of Hoboken.
The city also said on its website that it was working to find and fix a leaking service line near Bloomfield Street, which was closed between 10th and 11th streets.
Both were repaired by Saturday evening, the city said.
Lohmann called the issue a "never-ending story" in a tweet on Jan. 4, when a previous water main decimated water pressure near Observer Highway and Park Avenue.
Residents in the nearby area were left without water at around 7:00 a.m. as the stream of water reduced to a "steady gurgle."
Hoboken residents have long been weary of the main breaks in the square-mile New Jersey city: In 2016 alone, they dealt with 20 of them.
Last Wednesday, a water main broke on Observer Highway, leaving people living in a 300-unit apartment building nearby waterless.
Suez Water's contract to run the system pays the city just a third of a million dollars a year, while Hoboken must use that money to repair pipes, since it owns them, city officials have said.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer is trying to renegotiate.
"I want to make sure that we have an agreement that's fair to the people of Hoboken and offers the most investments each year as possible," she told NBC 4 New York.
Meanwhile, $17 million will be spent this year on a new water main and repaving of busy Washington Street. Another $5 million will be bonded to replace the miles of 100-year-old pipes, but that will take time, officials said.
Suez describes year-long negotiations as active. Zimmer agreed, but also said they were frustrating. Nonetheless, she hopes a deal can be worked out by the end of 2017 so that more money could be used to fix more pipes.
