BETHEL – The water district has hired a diver to repair a major leak in the town’s water main on the bottom of the Androscoggin River, but reissued its request Tuesday for residents to continue to conserve water until the problem is fixed.

A diver is expected to arrive in Bethel today or Thursday, according to Donnie Katlin, assistant superintendent of the Bethel Water District. The diver is an expert at repairing underwater lines, Katlin said.

On Monday evening, district trustees extended their prohibition on car washing, garden and lawn watering and any other nonessential water use. Katlin said Tuesday that the fire hoses that were strung across the Androscoggin on Sunday as temporary water lines “aren’t quite delivering what we need” in order to call off the water order.

District employees discovered the main break on Sunday morning. The water main, installed on the river bottom in 1889, runs from the town’s water supply, Chapman Brook, located on one side of the Androscoggin, to Bethel village on the other side.

Katlin said the town’s water reserve “is holding steady” at about 30 gallons a minute, which is far below what is needed to lift the conservation order.

The district also has hired a water transport company to deliver 8,000-gallon truckloads of water to the town’s holding tank until the problem has been resolved. The holding tank on the Paradise Road can hold 500,000 gallons of water.

Katlin credited the cooperative effort of fire department personnel from Bethel, Gilead, Greenwood and Newry for installing disinfected water hoses on Sunday to allow enough water for basic needs.

“We couldn’t have done it without them,” Katlin said.