AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Around ten o'clock Sunday morning water shot up out of the ground at the scene of a major water supply line break on the Fritch Highway.
The 45-inch supply line runs from the Carson County well field to the City of Amarillo and supplies a significant amount of potable water to the city. City officials assured us, though, that crews were on the scene shortly after the break to begin necessary repairs.
"The water line is about 6 feet under. They need to dig about 12 feet under to get all the way around it. They say that we already have the replacement pipe on hand so we're hoping to get it replaced in 24 hours. If it's at a T-joint, if it's something more serious then it'll take a little bit longer", said City Commissioner, Ellen Robertson Green.
Residents of both Amarillo and Canyon have been asked to curtail all non-essential water use until the break has been repaired.
"We really need people not to water outside, not to wash their cars, this is a major water break. It's not catastrophic but it's very serious", added Green.
The good news: the break has been isolated and the water is not contaminated and we have enough for necessities, like drinking and showering.
"We can supply enough water for drinking and, you know, for showers and things like that", said Green.
"We have 400 million gallons that sits out by our water, our Osage water treatment plant and so we're going to be using that source for right now as we repair the other current source", said City Commissioner and Mayor Pro Temp, Dr. Brian Eades.
City officials told us the worse case scenario for repairs is about three days. Until then... we're all on water watch.
READ MORE AT CONNECT AMARILLO
KVII UPDATE: City officials spoke at a press conference about an hour ago. Here's what we now know. The cause of the break is still unknown. It was a 15 foot piece of pipe that was damaged. Crews will work through the night to replace with a spare they have on hand. Officials expect to being testing and refilling some time late tomorrow. The public and business are still urged to continue to reduce non-essential and all outdoor watering.
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