OAKHURST — A water main broke overnight in the Oakhurst/Sierra Lakes portion of customers served by Hillview Water Company, sending about 250,000 gallons of water spewing away and compromising service to between 500-600 area residents.
Hillview Water received a report at 4:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 19, that a ten-inch seamless pipe had broken, causing a 20-foot lateral split and releasing a quarter million gallons of water, according to Ralph Fairfield, Compliance and Resource Officer for HWC.
Maintenance crews have been on the scene in the area of Victoria Lane behind Erna’s Elderberry house since then, and estimate repairs will be completed by 1 p.m. today.
Some residents and businesses are entirely without water at this time, while others are feeling the effects of extremely low pressure due to the loss of water.
The area affected runs from roughly True Value on Highway 49, down to the Victoria Lane and Royal Oaks area, over to the Sierra Lakes and Indian Springs neighborhoods, and north on Highway 41 to where the new hotels are being built.
Hillview is asking customers to reduce their water usage in order to give the tanks an opportunity to refill. According to state mandates, today is a non-watering day.
The cause of the break is not known at this time.
