By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

BETHEL – A three-week ban on nonessential water use for 500 Bethel Water District customers was lifted over the weekend.

“It’s business as usual,” John Head said Tuesday.

Customers were asked to conserve water on Aug. 14 when a cast iron water main under the Androscoggin River sprung a big leak. The main was installed in 1889.

Fixing it, has “been quite an ordeal,” said Head, chairman of the district’s Board of Trustees.

Last week’s efforts to replace the failed main with 440 feet of 12-inch diameter pipe stalled when two sections of the ball-and-socket-type pipe were defective.

“The absence of the pipes held us up several days,” Head said.

Replacement piping and two extra sections were ordered and delivered from a company in Iowa by Thursday. Local contractor Jack Cross of Cross Excavation then installed the remaining two sections by 11 a.m. Friday, Head said.

The line was then disinfected, pressure tested and flushed. A water sample was taken and transported to a laboratory in Rockland, which, Head said, remained open until it arrived at 7 p.m.

“They called us at 1 p.m. Saturday and told us it passed with flying colors,” Head said.

Fifteen minutes later, the river crossing main was opened and the system back on line.

By Tuesday, the district’s reservoir holding tank had 480,000 gallons. It holds 500,000 gallons.

“We had an emergency plan in effect since the 1980s, but this was just a question of getting the necessary supplies on site,” Head said.