About half of Washington is currently under a boil order after a water main break Thursday afternoon.
Sometime between noon and 1 p.m. yesterday, a 10-inch cast iron water main pipe behind the police station at 115 W. Jefferson St. broke.
Within 20 minutes, about 750,000 gallons of treated water emptied from the two Washington water towers leaving many residents with no water.
“I had the water on in my sink about one o’clock, and then at 20 after there was no water. It emptied that fast,” said Bob Ebert, who lives on Eldridge Street.
The break was located at the base of the east water tower, contributing to the fast loss of water.
“The pressure is really high in this line because of its location at the base of the tower,” said city engineer Ken Newman.
Each tower holds 500,000 gallons of water to supply Washington residents with the 1 million gallons they use daily.
Officials called the water loss “significant” and asked Washington residents to conserve their use until the water supply was replenished.
“The cost of the parts to repair the break is minimal. It’s the water loss and inconvenience to the citizens that’s significant,” said public services manager Bill Bimrose.
He and public works employees worked to repair the broken line yesterday until about 9:30 p.m.
A 12-foot section of the old cast iron pipe, which was laid in 1960, was replaced with a PVC pipe.
Bimrose and Newman said the likely cost of the repair would only be about $1,500, but the figure does not include personnel costs.
According to Bimrose, the break was caused by severe corrosion.
The replaced portion already had two repair clamps from previous breaks.
“We’re always worried about pipes breaking,” said Bimrose.
Yesterday’s break was the third time that water main broke in the 11 years since Newman has been the Washington city engineer.
“We actually have about a dozen pipes break a year,” he said. “But they’re usually in our smaller 4- and 6-inch pipes and we don’t lose nearly as much water.”
After the repair to the line was completed last night and the line was flushed, Newman said water samples would be sent to PDC Laboratories in Peoria this morning.
He projected it would take about 24 hours before getting the results of the water analysis. These results will then be sent to the Environmental Protection Agency.
“At best, we’re looking at Saturday morning before the boil order will be lifted,” he said.
After about 10 hours of refilling the water tower, the system is now up and running.
The boil order, however, is still in effect until lab results prove the samples to be clear of any contamination.
Until then, residents east of Hillcrest Drive and east of Dallas Road should boil any water for consumption including drinking, cooking and washing dishes.
