Now that a boil water advisory has been lifted for most customers, Owensboro Municipal Utilities is working to fortify the pipes that burst on Monday.
About 100,000 residents of Owensboro and Daviess County had little to no water before service was restored on Wednesday.
OMU Spokeswoman Sonya Dixon said it’s believed that a cast-iron pipe more than 100 years old ruptured and caused another pipe to leak.
"One of the pipes was cast-iron. We think, perhaps, when it broke or cracked, it undermined another pipe in the area, and that was ductile iron," explained Dixon. "That was a newer main, but it did compromise that main when the older one broke."
The water main breaks occurred outside OMU’s water treatment plant on Fourth Street known as Plant-A. Plans are underway to close the facility and replace its aging infrastructure.
That’s expected to occur in about two years when the newer Cavin Water Treatment Plant is expanded from a ten million to a 30 million gallon capacity.
The newer facility couldn’t meet the demand for water following the leaks this week.
