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Water back on for downtown

STEUBENVILLE — Water was restored to the downtown area of the city Monday night as the water department repair crew focused on a suspected leak in the Lincoln Avenue neighborhood.

Utility Director Chuck Murphy told the Herald-Star the efforts to charge the high-pressure system in the downtown area were completed Monday evening and the low-pressure system was being charged in the overnight hours into today.

Murphy said the high-pressure system serves a small number of buildings in the downtown area, while a majority of residences are on the low-pressure system.

“I am cautiously optimistic at this point we will have all of the downtown back in water by today, and we believe we have isolated the leak at the 20-inch water line that runs in the culvert on Lincoln Avenue and then under state Route 7 to the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill,” Murphy said.

The water line breaks that created a disruption of service to downtown residents and businesses started Thursday night and left hundreds without water.

Water buffaloes were set up at downtown sites by Friday afternoon, and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency sent bottled water to the city for distribution to invalid and elderly residents who were unable to get to a water buffalo.

Businesses and schools were closed and some churches canceled services Sunday because of the water emergency.

“We had our 11-man repair crew, along with water filtration personnel and supervisors, working 12-hour shifts non-stop through the crisis in order to find and isolate the major leaks that were causing us problems. Those guys deserve a lot of credit for never quitting during the weather we had hitting us at the same time,” Murphy emphasized.

“We also had Fort Steuben Maintenance working on water line breaks in the West End while we focused on restoring water in the downtown,” added Murphy.

“The downtown water residents will be under a water boil advisory until further notice.

“I am asking all downtown residents and businesses to continue to conserve water while we get our reservoir refilled and back to normal levels.

“I appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during this time,” stated Murphy.

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