AUGUSTA — Some households on the northeast side of Augusta were without water Sunday morning and part of the afternoon as crews worked to repair a leaking valve under the Cony Circle pavement.

The repair was scheduled by the Greater Augusta Utility District after a valve broke last Tuesday.

Drivers navigate water puddling on the north side of the Cony Circle on Friday, the result of a water pipe leak that the Greater Augusta Utility District was working Saturday and Sunday. File photo by Elise Klysa

Brian Tarbuck, the district’s general manager, said via email Sunday that the leak, which had left the innermost lane of Cony Circle wet for most of the week, became much worse when the material surrounding it was removed.

“This was not anticipated and presented an immediate safety hazard,” he said.

That meant that repairing the lines under pressure was no longer possible, so the district shut off water to customers from Willow Street to Gannett Street on the north side of Cony Street.

Tarbuck said that customers there were being notified, and it appeared that the water supply was back to normal just after 2 p.m.

Some east side locations were unaffected.

“City Center, Hannaford (supermarket), the Flatiron are all up and running as normal,” he wrote. “The feed to Hospital Street and Togus is operating normally.”

The valve was to be removed and replaced with a straight pipe and then the hole was to be backfilled and compacted. Some of the valves and pipes in that area are 114 years old.

Tarbuck said the crews expected to complete the work by 5 p.m. Sunday or earlier. Utility crews will be back working in the same area Monday and Tuesday night to complete paving work.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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