Bracing For Nothing

Sunday morning I woke up to the news that there was a water main break in Norwood. It had burst during the early hours and opened a sinkhole on Route 1 that was only getting bigger as the day wore on. Now, we had a huge water main break over the summer, so I felt like I was ready this time. I took my shower and brushed my teeth as quickly as I could to make sure I got it in before the water ban went into effect and double checked that we still had three gallons of bottles water left over from the last time we had this problem so we wouldn't have to fight the mob that was about to form. I did all this because, clearly, if that water main break caused us to have to boil water for three days then this one was going to cause an even worse set of problems.

Only those problems never happened. We never lost water pressure, our water never turned a funky color and if no one had told me it had happened I never would have known. We weren't even told to boil our water just to make sure. The pipe was apparently repaired by this afternoon and the hole filled back up and paved over shortly after. Now, other than a couple of businesses right near where the pipe burst having to close and some homes in South Norwood losing water pressure, it appears that this was a minor issue. So, here's my question (and the proof that I am not about to become a civil engineer): how is it that a pipe bursting 20 miles from my house means I have to watch my water consumption and boil the water that I do use, but a pipe bursting less than three miles from my house doesn't even register? Shouldn't the things that happen close to home be the ones we have to worry about? To me this is the equivalent of a transformer blowing in Newton and causing the lights in my house to go out, while the one at the end of the driveway blowing up doesn't even cause the lights to flicker. I'm not complaining, just befuddled.