Missouri American Water Company is repairing Tuesday’s roughly 100 water main breaks in St. Louis County. Spokesman Brian Russell tells Missourinet the rash of water mains bursting has been overwhelming.
Frigid weather causes about 100 water mains to break in St. Louis County
“It just got so cold and it stayed so cold. We just had a lot of water mains start breaking,” says Russell. “We’ve been going out and getting them fixed as fast as we can but for each one we fix, it seems like two or three more break. It’s just been kind of an uphill battle.”
The company serves roughly 450,000 customers statewide. Russell says the main breaks have disrupted service, business and traffic.
“I know this is certainly the most we’ve had in at least the last two years, but I couldn’t compare it to much farther than that. It is extreme,” he says. “It’s all over the state but it’s certainly much worse in St. Louis, just because there’s so many more miles of main. We have 4,200 miles of water main in St. Louis County. We don’t have that many more across the state combined.”
Russell wants people to report water main breaks and leave the specific intersection of the water main’s location by calling 1.866.430.0820.