PWSA repairs broken water main, boil advisory for West End continues

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority finished repairing a broken 16-inch water main in Duquesne Heights Thursday afternoon, but a boil advisory for about 3,800 customers in the West End and Mt. Washington remained in effect.

PWSA expected by evening to have service restored to about 900 homes that had been without water since Tuesday when a contractor broke the line while digging on Shaler Street, according to PWSA. Contractors worked through the night Wednesday to repair the line.

“The repair is completed,” PWSA spokesman Will Pickering said. “It’s just now a matter of getting water back into the system to those areas that were without it.”

The break caused low pressure in the West End and Mt. Washington, and PWSA issued a precautionary advisory because of a possibility for contaminants to enter the water. Residents of Crafton Heights, Duquesne Heights, Elliott, Mt. Washington, Ridgemont and Westwood should continue to flush tap water and boil it for at least one minute before using it.

The authority must conduct multiple rounds of testing to confirm that the water is safe from contaminants before lifting the advisory.