CANAAN — An elbow joint that had become partly separated from an 8-inch water main near the intersection of Bruce Road and Route 4 is believed to be the source of the leak that depleted much of Canaan village’s public water system and prompted several days of work to find it.
A work crew on Monday located and began repairing the problem, according to Town Administrator Mike Samson.
“The soils were totally saturated where the break was; it’s more of a separation than a break,” Samson said. The water pipes were “completely surrounded by clay soil, which were “clearly saturated” to a radius of about 100 feet, he said.
Samson said the elbow joint was made of ductile steel and dated to 1985. Even as workers were addressing that problem, around 4:30 p.m. they discovered that the water main in the Bruce Road area had another crack that was leaking and started work to fix that, according to an update Samson emailed to residents around 4:50 p.m.
A fire tanker relay involving Canaan and Enfield firefighters helped fill a 60,000 gallon tank at Canaan’s water treatment plant on Sunday, and a new hose system established on Sunday to bring water from Canaan Street Lake to the water treatment plant also kicked into gear, the update said.
As a result, the reserves in the village’s 300,000 gallon water tank rose from 15% to 25% by Monday, easing the crisis.
However, the 400 or so users in the Canaan village system still are being asked to conserve water and boil it prior to cooking or drinking.
In addition, water from the system was taken to Concord for testing on Monday, the update said.
Several stores and donors provided pallets of bottled water, and the town purchased some as well.
Cases of water also were delivered to the Canaan Elementary School by the Canaan Fire Department.
“We had enough water to service all the needs today, and it was still going up,” Samson said of the tank reserves.
There was no disruption to traffic on nearby Route 4, he said.
Canaan first announced the water emergency on Friday, saying a leak had caused the levels in the water tank to drop from 300,000 gallons to 40,000 gallons of water over the course of seven days.
The water system serves about 10% of the town; most residents are on private wells.
John Gregg can be reached at jgregg@vnews.com.