San Marcos, Water Main Breaks
Thursday morning, Several San Marcos residents woke up to a big surprise. A major water main breaks in downtown. This breakdown affected the city with hours of low water pressure or no water in several parts of the city.
Around 5 a.m., crews were called to a water main break in downtown San Marcos. Tom Taggart, with the city of San Marcos, explained that, it is a 12-inch main that conveys water to the downtown area of San Marcos
The impact was widespread. It affected residential houses, schools, and to a large extent hospitals, fairly large area of downtown San Marcos. Taggart said that, the will be under this suffering until we get those valves positioned to isolate the main.
The water main break affected businesses, schools and even the Central Texas Medical Center. Bill Johnson with the Central Texas Medical Center said that the hospital needs water to run our boilers so that we have steam, for our sterilizers to perform surgeries and other medical procedures. Water is very crucial for a health care facility.
Johnson says two surgeries were put on hold, and the center had to use their backup water supply for nearly four hours this morning.
Crews were hard at work on University Drive and C.M. Allen Parkway. There’s a split in the bottom of the main four to eight feet long. We’ll be replacing that section added Taggart. Once crews repair the damage to the water main, they’ll refill the hole and cover it with a temporary layer of asphalt allowing traffic to flow through by sometime this evening.
However, it won’t be until tomorrow when a permanent layer of asphalt will be put onto this road. Meanwhile, officials say they’ll take samples from around the city’s water system to ensure safety.
They advised the residents of San Marcos that, in the meantime, everyone in the downtown or southern sections of the city should boil their water for drinking until 5 p.m. Friday.
However, people on the Texas State Campus are exempted from this inconvenience and shouldn’t worry. Since, the university gets its water from a separate supply, which is safe as before.