By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — A concrete wall that keeps the Hudson River at bay near the World Trade Center sprung a leak Thursday night.
The leak was noticed about 11 p.m. Thursday when 2 feet of water filled a construction pit near Vesey Street just west of West Street, said Steve Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority.
The FDNY responded and contained the leak by about 1 a.m. Friday, Coleman said.
The water flowed through a small crack in a concrete retaining wall that was built to keep the Hudson River back during the excavation of a pedestrian tunnel beneath West Street, Coleman said. When the tunnel is complete, it will allow people to walk belowground between the World Financial Center and the World Trade Center.
Brookfield Properties, owner of the World Financial Center, is building the tunnel from the west side, while the Port Authority is building it from the east. The leak happened on the west side, an area under Brookfield’s control, Coleman said.
Because the tunnel does not yet go all the way through, there was no danger of the World Trade Center site flooding, Coleman said.
A spokesman for Brookfield Properties said the leak may have started because the grout the workers put in the wall did not fully seal it.
"It is my understanding that this is not all that unusual and a fairly minor issue," said the spokesman, Matthew Cherry, in an e-mail.
There were no injuries or traffic impacts, the Associated Press reported.
The Occupational Safety and Heath Administration may investigate the incident, Coleman said.
