Behind The Scenes Of The Waterbury Water Main Repair Saga

You probably don't think about what it takes to get a drop of water from three towns away to your house, but I'm sure many in Waterbury and Watertown have in the past 48 hours.

The work on a massive 30-inch high-pressure water main break on Huntington Avenue in Waterbury is finally coming to an end after a nearly two-day battle. Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski has kept the thirsty townfolk and angry schoolchildren informed on the progress of the massive repair throughout this incident on the city's social media pages, and it seems like it was an incredible undertaking.

Waterbury residents should still watch the quality of water that is coming out of the lines today according to Mayor Pernerewski and the Waterbury Health Department, yesterday WHD advised residents who lost water during the break or experienced low water pressure to boil their water for at least one minute before drinking, cooking, brushing your teeth, or washing fruits and veggies. Mayor Pernerewski issued an advisory shortly afterward suggesting that residents who experience discolored water should run their faucets until it comes out clear.

At one point during the repair over 10 miles of pipe connected to the affected transmission line had to be drained of close to 3 to 4 million gallongs of water before any portion of repairing the 100+ year old pipe could be accessed. The break disrupted school for most of the area yesterday, but Waterbury and St. Mary's Hospitals were able to stay open due to access to reserve tanks.