Residents of Paterson, N.J., lined up for showers and port-a-potties for a third day Sunday, as repairs on a broken water main turned out to be more complex than officials expected.
While the Passaic Valley Water Commission said it was making progress on Sunday, fixing the 30-inch main that sprung a leak early Friday would take another 24 to 36 hours, the agency said.
“Please continue to boil your water or use bottled water until you are notified that the water quality is satisfactory,” the commission said in a statement. “This advisory will remain in effect until repairs are completed and testing shows the water quality to be safe.”
All 162,000 residents of the city were advised not to use their water after the break, which occurred about 6 a.m. Friday on a small street behind historic Hinchliffe Stadium, flush with Paterson Great Falls national park. That was later expanded to the entire Borough of Prospect Park.
Many residents were without water at all, and the city set up comfort stations, portable showers and water distribution spots for people who could prove they lived in the affected area. By Sunday the commission had connected temporary lines from other water systems to recharge the system, but officials cautioned that “residents may continue to experience low or no water pressure and discolored water.”
“The location of the break, the age of the system, local topography and other nearby infrastructure” complicated repairs, the water commission said. Workers had to cut through thick brush, in a wooded area with tough terrain, to access the pipe and find the leak.
“It is a difficult location,” Passaic Valley Water Commission Executive Director Jim Mueller told reporters. “Right next to Hinchliffe, it’s on the side of a hill, it’s about 10-15 feet deep in a wooded area.”
Moreover, the city was incorporated in 1851, and its pipes date back to the 1880s or earlier, officials noted.
“These pipes are hundreds of years old,” Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh said while visiting the site, noting the one break was compounded by two separate, smaller breaks elsewhere in the city.
By Saturday the water commission had reduced the leak by half, Mueller said. Workers had also connected temporary water lines from other systems, in cooperation with neighboring towns.
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