Purcell was without water from 5 a.m. Saturday until around 9:20 a.m. Sunday due to a water main break.

Low pressure continued after water was restored.

But thanks to the efforts of the Purcell Water Department water was restored Saturday morning and pressure was back to normal by Monday morning.

The problem stemmed from not one but two water main breaks.

The main problem was a 12” line that busted at 2nd and Jackson around 8 p.m. Friday due in large part to the extreme heat that rocketed to at least 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

That break was reported by a citizen to the city sending superintendent Michael Minor and his entire nine member team plus a five member outsource team from Wee Construction to the scene.

Minor said they utilized two excavators in the repair process.

“We came in around 8 p.m. and finished around 11 a.m. Saturday,” Minor said.

Even after the repairs were finished at 2nd and Jackson City Manager Dale Bunn said the city suspected there was another break.

Sure enough there was.

The other break was under the Walnut Creek Bridge.

“It was a little harder to find since there is already water there all the time,” Bunn said.

But the line break was sniffed out and repaired in 2 1/2 to three hours, Minor reported.

How city crews know of a line break varies, Minor reported.

“Pressure will tell us or increases in pumping rates,” Minor said. “We have telemetry parameters that sends an alarm but usually in case of a break the size of 2nd and Jackson someone will notice before the alarm goes off because there is a three minute delay.”

A Robo call from Kevin Rhoads came in around 4:30 a.m. Saturday telling customers to draw some water because the system would be shut down at 5 a.m. for up to eight hours.

Fortunately for customers the water department’s work restored water service just a smidgen over four hours.

There was some air in water lines and some dirty water but not many other issues.

And fortunately, there was no fires in town during the outage.