Break in Kempner water main disrupts service temporarily

A water line break left about 500 people in and around Lampasas without water on Sunday, and several areas around Copperas Cove remain under a boil order.

Normal water service in Lampasas, however, resumed about 5 p.m. Sunday.

A concrete water main that serves Kempner and the southern half of Lampasas broke shortly after 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Kempner Water Supply Corporation General Manager David Sneed said. Subsequent isolation valve failures disrupted the line that serves the north side of Lampasas.

At about 8 p.m. Saturday Kempner Water Supply called Hanson, a Fort Worth-based company that manufactures and repairs water mains, and work crews arrived at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Hanson had to cut multiple isolation valves to allow "de-watering" of lines, Sneed said. Water shutoff began Sunday and affected about 500 people who live along U.S. Highway 190. Water was flowing again by about 4 p.m. Sunday, Sneed said.

Lampasas Public Works Di- rector Randy Clark said Lampasas came within about an hour of having to institute a boil order. An eighteen-inch line near the Hostess House broke Saturday night, he said, and the break in Kempner shut off water in some parts of Lampasas.

Workers repaired the eighteen inch line Sunday morning, and normal water service throughout Lampasas resumed by about 5 p.m. Sunday, Clark said.

Windsor Foods Inc. and Lampasas Independent School District -- typically two of the city's heaviest water users -- were not running Sunday, which helped Lampasas avoid a boil order, Clark said. Badger Car Wash shut down temporarily, and police officers asked residents to comply with voluntary water conservation by not running sprinklers on Sunday.

Residents of Sunset Acres, County Road 3220, Farm-to- Market Road 116 near Copperas Cove and the Bluestem and Stone Oak areas remained under a boil order as of press time Monday. The order affects between 1,200 and 1,500 homes, Sneed said.