Published: December 11, 2008 10:58 pm      

Boil water advisories remain for 4,000

Water line fixed early Thursday; U.S. 23 open

ASHLAND — The water line break under U.S. 23 that stalled traffic, canceled schools and is forcing thousands to boil their water has been repaired.

City officials said the broken 16-inch line that tore up all four lanes of U.S. 23 near its intersection with 43rd Street and spilled millions of gallons of clean water onto the roadway was repaired overnight Wednesday.

The highway was reopened by 7 a.m. Thursday, but boil water advisories remain in effect for more than 4,000 city water customers, including the entire city of Catlettsburg.

Officials said they expect the boil water advisories to be lifted today or Saturday at the latest.

Water plant manager Jeff Camp said the state Division of Water requires the plant to culture the water, which takes 24 hours for results. He said he anticipates the cultures won’t grow and the state will approve lifting the ban sometime today.

Wednesday’s headaches were caused by a 12-foot break in the 16-inch water line that serves as the main water conduit to Catlettsburg and the large industrial facilities along the Ohio River in Boyd County, according to Charlie Doolin, Ashland’s water superintendent.

He said a hole was also discovered in another 6-inch water line. Workers had to replace a large section of split line on the water main, but were able to patch the smaller line with a stainless steel band. He said the work was completed by 2:30 a.m., but workers then had to fill and repair the roadway.

Doolin said he is confident the line split under pressure Wednesday and had not been leaking. He anticipates no future problems from the repaired line.

City Manager Steve Corbitt said the broken water main was cast iron and most likely between 80 and 100 years old, as many other city lines that have broken in recent years are.

He said the city will have to do additional work on the roadway. Because the roadway is a heavily traveled state highway, the city was given permission to temporarily patch it by the state Transportation Cabinet.

“When the weather is better we’ll have to make a repair that meets their specifications, but our main target last night was getting the road open,” he said. The main difference was the repairs were made with different materials, according to Corbitt.

The city was anxious to reopen the roadway because streets used in the detour were mainly residential and could not accommodate heavy commercial vehicles. “It was a real mess, we had one semi take out a fire hydrant. Putting those big trucks on those little narrow streets was not the best thing to do,” he said.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.