WILTON — A waterline break on Main Street discovered late Wednesday night is expected to be repaired Friday morning.

Due to the low temperatures Thursday, the Water Department decided to hold off digging until about 8 a.m. Friday, Superintendent Clayton Putnam said.

A service line going to the bottle redemption center started leaking at the valve. The Main Street business, with an apartment on the second floor, was without water Thursday.

Putnam believes police may have spotted water going up hill on to a lawn near the bottle redemption store and then flowing back toward the road, producing an icy sidewalk and road edge Wednesday night, he said. Department workers were called out.

A sign was posted to warn motorists of potential ice and water, he said.

“We are blessed. It isn’t in the middle of the road,” he said later Thursday.

Most of the water and ice remained on the sidewalk and edge of the road.

The area was sanded at about 1 a.m. Thursday but when the sun came up, the water flow had gone. The water appears to be flowing into a culvert behind the old Keene store, he said. The warning sign was removed.

Putnam believes normal deterioration caused the leak on the line, which was installed in 1949. There are other lines that are older, he said.

The Maine Rural Water Association was called in Thursday morning to help pinpoint the leak using high-tech leak detection equipment. 

“We’re able to call them in as part of our membership dues. They are a great resource,” he said.

It doesn’t appear to be a large leak because the reservoir is not losing water, he said.

The town road crew salted, sanded and scraped ice with a loader Thursday morning.

abryant@sunjournal.com