Broken Northeast water main removed, new pipe being installed today
Watch El Paso Water's news conference live below:
Update (3:12 PM): El Paso Water says that repairing the 36-inch broken water main has been difficult. Today crews are installing and welding the new pipe in place. The company will then slowly restore water by repressurizing the system slowly to avoid future breaks.
El Paso Water says that samples taken yesterday are "encouraging." An official added that more testing will continue.
Officials said that there are now 8,000 connections without service. That is equivalent to 24,000 people, according to El Paso Water. Approximately 100,000 people are still under a boil water notice.
Update (2:12 PM): El Paso Water officials will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. today. ABC-7 will air the news conference live and will livestream it online.
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Thousands are still in need of water in Northeast El Paso. That is due to a water main break that happened late Saturday night and has impacted everyday life in parts of the city since. El Paso Water has multiple water distribution locations for those who need help at this time. Over 100,000 residents or customers were affected.
Overnight, El Paso Water says its crews removed the broken segment of the 36-inch water main that broke.
"The operation has posed a challenge for crews as they simultaneously pump remaining water out of the line to keep it out of the trench where crews are working," an El Paso Water spokesperson said in a social media post Tuesday morning. The post also showed the following pictures of the pipe being removed:
El Paso Water has now set up seven different locations for you, different from what we had yesterday. Now, El Paso Water will also have water tankers at four of these distribution locations. You will need to bring your own container to collect water from the tankers. Our crews saw lots of people bringing empty orange juice cans, so that's an example of what you can bring. Water bottles and jugs will also be available at these locations.
