A major water main break in Waterbury left nearly 100,000 people without water this weekend.
Officials said a 10-inch, century-old waterline failed and caused a transmission main to explode late Friday night. It left most households in the city, as well as in Wolcott and Watertown, without water. The few homes that still had water couldn't use it without boiling it first.
Mayor Paul Pernerewski said they were able to get to the hole where the water main broke on Sunday morning.
“It was a large failure,” Pernerewski said. “The pipe, as we had indicated, was washed out underneath and has collapsed. It is actually more significant than we had initially thought it was going to be. So it's going to take some, you know, an effort, to get that fixed.”
The city began distributing cases of water bottles on Sunday. They plan to do so until the system is back online.
The National Guard, Red Cross, Salvation Army and Team Rubicon were among the groups helping to mitigate the effects of the break.
School was canceled for Monday, and Pernerewski said they won’t reopen until water service is restored. Restaurants were also ordered to close. Pernerowski said the city’s two hospitals were both able to access water.
The break comes as Waterbury, along with other Connecticut municipalities, grapples with aging infrastructure and a changing climate.
If you are impacted by the water outage and have questions or need to access resources, call 311.
