TOWN OF WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Customers in the town of Watertown on and around outer Washington Street, which is also U.S. Route 11, should boil their water for the next three or four days.
That’s because of a water main break on Watertown Center Loop Road that affects customers along Routes 11, 232, 155 and 67, Spring Valley Drive, and Summit Drive.
“I gotta commend our town crew. They have worked straight through from 5:30 Sunday morning until now,” said Joel Bartlett, town supervisor.
Before repairs were made, businesses found themselves in trouble. At the local Subway, manager Amy Seeley says the increased water pressure caused the eatery’s soda machine to malfunction, flooding the store floor. Then without running water, the business was forced to close.
“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen but we didn’t have water so we couldn’t be open. That caused some issues with them closing because they didn’t have water to do what they need to do as well,” said Seeley.
But sometimes shutting down just isn’t an option. Workers at Samaritan Summit Village had several thousand gallons of water delivered from offsite to keep residents hydrated and beat the heat.
While a decent portion of the water was meant for consumption, the majority was actually used to run the facility’s air conditioning system, a crucial move amid Sunday’s blistering heat.
“It really was very hectic but certainly important with what we were trying to do not knowing how long it would take for the break to be repaired and making sure all of these residents had water at their access,” said Director of Communication Leslie DiStefano.
A boil water advisory is currently in place for areas affected by the water main break.
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