Long Night: Six inch water main break on Line Street

A major 4:30 p.m. break in a six-inch water line at the corner of South Line and East South Street across from the Du Quoin High School took four hours to repair Tuesday under the worst possible set of circumstances. As water flooded Line Street all the way north to East Poplar Street water department staff members worked feverishly to find the right shut-off valve. They found a total of 13 shutoffs in the area, but none of them shut down the flow of water on the broken pipe. It appears that the valve they needed to find was probably paved over in asphalt and oil and chipping operations. On top of that, two of the city's largest portable gasoline powered pumps are inoperable and workers had to make the repair while the line was pressurized using three smaller two and three inch pumps. They worked hard and fast to get to the problem then wound up having to put three large stainless steel clamps around different breaks on the same line. The flow of water stopped around 9:25 p.m. It would take another hour and a half to secure everything and go home. It was the third break in the last week, according to Mayor Guy Alongi.