More than 100,000 residents in El Paso, Texas, have been left without running water after a major water main break over the weekend. The 36-inch pipeline burst late Saturday night, disrupting supply to approximately 38,000 customer connections.
Gilbert Trejo, an official with El Paso Water, described the incident as 'an event of unprecedented proportion'. He noted that the break's impact was exacerbated by the pipeline's design and the configuration of smaller connections.
A boil water notice has been issued, and distribution centres have been set up to provide water. The El Paso Independent School District cancelled classes at over a dozen schools on Monday due to the outage, while others remained open under the boil notice.
Trejo reported that more than 15 water reservoirs had 'essentially drained out'. The cause of the break remains under investigation, and repairs are expected to continue until midweek before normal service resumes.
