AUBURN — A road-clogging geyser from a broken water main Monday on Court Street could end up costing the utility and the contractor that cut the line $10,000.

“Even though it was a large volume of water, the cost of the water is probably negligible,” Auburn Water District Superintendent John Storer said. “The real cost would be from the staff time, the overtime, the costs for dealing with the boil water notice and getting things posted and getting water distributed.”

Storer estimated the costs to the district at between $3,000 and $5,000.

“I think we incurred about as much cost as the contractor did,” he said. “I can’t imagine the cost for the entire event would be much more than $10,000.”

Crews from Shaw Brothers Construction digging a natural gas line broke a 16-inch water main carrying water from Lake Auburn to the city’s Goff Hill Reservoir on Park Avenue at about 3 p.m. Monday. The break sent geysers of water into the air and shut down Court Street for several hours.

It was fixed Monday night and water service to the area was restored, but roughly 30 homes on Court and Russell streets were put under a boil order until the water could be tested. They were given bottled water for drinking and tooth brushing until the water could be tested and certified safe.

The boil order was lifted Tuesday afternoon.

Storer said the district has filed a report on the incident with the Maine Public Utilities Commission. The water line was marked on the street by Auburn crews, but Storer said the utility and the contractor will likely share the responsibility for the main break.

“I don’t think they understood it was there,” Storer said. “We marked it, but maybe the marks were not fresh enough. But they worked very hard with us to make these repairs, so we’d like to work something out cooperatively. I think we can come to some kind of handshake deal.”

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