LEWISTON — A water main break under Sabattus Street near the Grove Street intersection shut down service to some 2,000 homes and businesses Tuesday night.
“No water in this house tonight,” Emma St. Germain said from her Sabattus Street home, about a block from the spot where the main had broken. “Turns out water is one of those things you don’t really think about until you don’t have it. Thankfully, I had a bottle of water in the refrigerator.”
Public Works Director David Jones said a crew discovered water bubbling from the pavement Tuesday afternoon. Crews quickly shut down water service to the Sabattus and Grove street neighborhoods and began digging to repair the pipe.
Crews had the broken piece of a 10-inch main cut out and removed by 7:30 p.m. and were in the process of installing a new pipe, Jones said. He estimated that the work would be finished by 9 p.m., but it would take until 11 p.m. to get water service back to the affected homes.
“You have to be real careful how you bring that water pressure back up, otherwise you’ll blow that whole pipe right out of the ground again,” he said. “So, we have to bring up that pressure really slowly and take our time.”
The cause of the break was unknown, Jones said.
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- A crew from the Lewiston Public Works Water Division filled a hole on Sabattus Street after repairing a broken water main Tuesday evening. The break left thousands of customers without water for hours, but it wasn’t difficult to fix, said Public Works Director David Jones, second from right.
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