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Carrboro water main break cancels classes, disrupts UNC hospitals

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Yes, ContinueNo By Sarah Krueger and Emmy Victor, WRAL reporters Carrboro, N.C. — A major water main break in Carrboro caused the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools to cancel classes Monday and forced UNC Hospitals to reroute trauma patients as crews scrambled to find and fix the rupture.
Residents are still advised to boil water until further notice.
Video showed water gushing from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, or OWASA, treatment plant onto Jones Ferry Road.
Police blocked off the road in front of the plant, at 400 Jones Ferry Road, while crews worked to patch the line.
"We’re making more drinking water to try and make up what’s being lost through the break," Ed Kerwin, executive director of the water utility, said, adding that drinking water from Durham and Hillsborough would also be brought in."
Late Monday afternoon, UNC-Chapel Hill announced that classes will be cancelled through 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Bottled water was brought in for staff and patients, and portable hand-washing stations were being set up throughout the hospitals.
OWASA originally stated its water was safe to drink but later issued a boil advisory for local customers.
The boil advisory doesn’t affect customers on Hillsborough’s water system.

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