WEST PARIS — Three days after a water main break on Bethel Road tested water samples put West Paris’ drinking water in the clear.

The impacted area was at Trap Corner and included the Rusty Lantern Market and Big Apple convenience stories, the section along Route 26 (Bethel Road) to Pioneer Street and Overlook Terrace on Briggs Street, which are off Route 219 (Main Street).

The order came from the Maine Drinking Water Program, which collected samples for testing Tuesday morning after service was restored.

The West Paris Fire Department was called to secure the area about 11:30 p.m. Monday.

“It was like a small river coming out of the ground, right at the Maine Forest Service building on 26,” Fire Chief Mike Henderson said. The Forest Service is at 131 Bethel Road.

Henderson said his crew notified the Maine Rural Water Association, the organization that manages water district operations.

Early Tuesday, the Poland Corp., the construction company contracted by the water district for excavation maintenance, dug out the line and repaired it.

Maine Rural Water Association Director Kirsten Hebert told the Advertiser Democrat that the line’s valve had to be turned off Monday night until Poland Corp. was able to repair it.

Friday morning Hebert confirmed by email that test results showed that the water was safe for drinking and that the Maine Drinking Water Program had lifted the boil order.

It was at least the third boil water order to hit water district customers. During a four-month period starting in April of 2024 one was issued when tears to its reservoir cover allowed it to be contaminated by E.coli.

A boil order was also put in place last summer when the utility’s pump system failed and leaks to the reservoir walls caused it to drain.

Last August, the water district trucked in up to 90,000 gallons of water daily for several days while the pump was down. That repair was largely covered with a $50,000 emergency block grant from the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development.

West Paris Water District has operated under a consent agreement issued by Maine Drinking Water after a 2024 safety inspection revealed numerous system weaknesses and safety violations. Included in the agreement is that the water district replace the reservoir by 2027 at an estimated cost of $26 million.