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Broken Water Main To Take Days To Fix

Trauma Patients Diverted From Saint Mary's Hospital

POSTED: 9:20 am EDT June 26, 2008
UPDATED: 5:00 pm EDT June 26, 2008

An overnight water main break in Waterbury may not be repaired until the weekend.

The pipe burst shortly after midnight on Thursday. Officials said the 4-inch break connects to a larger 3-foot water main.

Crews said the major problem with the 100-year-old pipe is old age.

The water main needs a new line stop and other parts, but those pieces needed to be shipped from Florida and Texas.

The parts aren't expected to arrive until Saturday.

Jay Jahar, the manager of the nearby Holiday Inn Express said the break has cost him thousands of dollars in discounts in free hotel rooms because of yellow water.

"It was rusty, cloudy," he said. "It's not just last night, but probably tomorrow when people check out. I don't know how long it's going to last."

The broken water main also led to surgeries being canceled at Saint Mary's Hospital on Thursday morning and trauma patients being diverted.

Although the hospital is located about a mile away from the break, the broken line feeds right into it.

Hospital officials said that workers noticed low water pressure inside the facility on Wednesday night.

To ensure that the hospital had enough water, tanker trucks were brought in from numerous towns to pump water into the hospital's system.

"We brought in additional five volunteer fire companies from around the region with their tanker trucks to supplement the contracted tankers," said Waterbury Fire Chief Michael Maglione.

Maglione said that one of the 9,000 gallon tankers would last the hospital for 20 minutes.

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