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UPDATE: Water Main Fixed, Boil Advisory in Effect

MAHANOY CITY — A water main break caused plenty of concern in a Schuylkill County community considering water was shut off to all of Mahanoy City affectin...
schuyl water main 3-12-15

MAHANOY CITY -- A water main break caused plenty of concern in a Schuylkill County community considering water was shut off to all of Mahanoy City affecting about 1,500 homes and businesses.

School officials have placed Mahanoy Area School District on a two hour delay and the Child Development Mahanoy City Center is closed Thursday because of the water woes.

Repair crews worked overnight and say the nearly 6,000 people who may have had dry taps should have water flowing again or at least very soon.

Residents may experience low pressure until later Thursday morning.

While crews say the water is safe to shower in, don’t drink it yet. Mahanoy City is still under a boil water advisory until further notice.

Crews say the actual water main break took place around 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the intersection of East Pine and South Main Streets.

According to repair crews, it took them awhile to find the eight inch pipe since it was leaking into a storm drain instead of bubbling up onto the street.

Officials say the cause of the mess was the cap placed on an old water line blew off.

Water was shut off to all of Mahanoy City for about five hours overnight.

“The update right now is we’re filling the system back up. We’re going to be on a boil water advisory until further notice and hopefully by eight o’clock (in the morning), we’ll have the system filled back up," said Joseph Fegley, Mahanoy Township Water Authority.

Members with the water authority say the last time they had to shut all of the water off in the borough was in 2008.

Luckily for so many places Thursday morning, including the Mahanoy City Food Store, the water pressure returned to normal a short time ago.

Because of the boil water advisory, workers at this grocery store say they’re already selling more bottled water than usual at this hour.

Neighbors we caught up with say they’re just grateful the water woes are just about over.

“We were worried about the furnace going out and stuff like that. Now we’re fine. It’s okay, water is back on," said Russel Zimmerman of Mahanoy City. "It could’ve worse. It could’ve been a day or two without water because you don’t what part they might have needed to fix it or anything like that.”

Again, the time to it took to help repair this break was faster. The water pressure should be back to normal in Mahanoy City after 8 a.m. Thursday morning.

Newswatch 16 will let you know when the boil water advisory has been lifted.

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