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Water to Return to Broken Main Soon

The water main at Eastern Parkway and Crittenden Drive that broke last week has been replaced.A new section of the 48 inch pipe is now in the ground. Another section of the pipe was replaced earlier after suffering a similar break.When pipes are replaced, the increase in pressure after the repairs can exploit weaknesses elsewhere in the line."We just don't turn them back on. What they do with the transmission main, it's very slow. They bring it at full pressure, but each day for the course of a week they might gradually increase the flow of water going through it, just so you don't shock the system, as they call it," says Louisville Water Company spokeswoman Kelley Dearing-Smith.She adds that it's not clear whether that's the cause of the break, and crews were vigilant in making sure another system shock won't happen."They were not only looking at the pipe, but they were looking at the joints that connect the pieces in the ground. We also did some repair work on some gates and valves in that area. While we can't say two breaks connected-we don't have a good reason to say that yet—we don't know what caused the first two breaks," she says.Water pressure will slowly return to the main next week. The company will launch a new inspection program next month.