VIRIGNIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Beach Public Utilities has responded to 14 water main breaks in the past couple of weeks.

Utility Operations Manager Robert Wheeler said many of those breaks were due to dropping temperatures.

Wheeler told 10 On Your Side this happens as the ground gets colder. He explained that the cooler ground puts additional stress on the pipes, which causes some of them to fail.

He said while there isn’t much they can do to prevent the problem from happening, they are trying to mitigate it.

“We do reinvest back in our infrastructure throughout the years with multiple multi-year projects and multimillion dollar renovation rehabilitation projects to try to mitigate these issues in some of the older areas that we do have problems throughout the years,” he said.

To keep plumbing from freezing inside your homes, Wheeler’s advice is to drip water from your faucets and open cabinet doors to allow heat to flow through to pipes in that area.

If you have a water main issue, call the Virginia Beach Public Utilities Department at 757-385-1400.