The water system that serves Chapel Hill, Carrboro and UNC-Chapel Hill experienced a water main break Monday, marking the second time in two years a broken pipe has caused a major disruption.
The Orange Water and Sewer Authority , which serves more than 80,000 customers, issued a boil advisory Monday and asked customers to limit their use of water.
“Please use water for essential needs only to ensure the community has water for emergency requirements,” the university said in a news release Monday evening.
“System pressure remains low in some areas.” Be the first to know.
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We must conserve the community’s water supply in case of emergency requirements.” A water main going to the Orange Water And Sewer Authority’s storage tanks broke on Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, and the agency asked customers in Carrboro, Chaperl Hill and the University of North Carolina to cut use back to drinking and hygiene uses until crews could find and fix the break.
Orange Water and Sewer Authority UNC hospital facilities in Chapel Hill suspended elective surgery Monday.
Ambulances with emergency patients were being directed to other area hospitals, UNC said.
Read Next Water ban deals a $471,479 hit to Chapel Hill-Carrboro hotels Read Next Reports: Human, system errors, excessive pressure on burst pipe caused Orange County water emergency Read Next OWASA restarts water treatment plant, advises customers to conserve While OWASA was handling the Feb. 3, 2017, overfeed, it suffered one of the worst water main breaks in its history, losing 1.2 million gallons of water through a broken 12-inch pipe.
A major water main break occurred outside of OWASA’s Jones Ferry Road water treatment plant early Monday morning.