Kingsport crews working to restore water after 16 inch water line break underneath Wilcox Drive bridge
KINGSPORT — City of Kingsport public works crews are hard at work restoring water service to a wide area in Kingsport after a 16 inch water line tucked beneath the Wilcox Drive bridge over the Sluice broke around 9:30 p.m. Monday night.
Due to the hidden nature of the water line, crews scrambled to locate the fix, which significantly lowered water amounts available in the reservoir system, Public Works Director Ryan McReynolds said early Tuesday.
“This break was difficult to locate because it is underneath the bridge,” McReynolds said. “Normally when you have a line this size break, it’s pretty easy to locate because it displaces pavement and earth around the site of the break.”
Most Kingsport residents and businesses should already be seeing pressure restored, with full sytem pressure‚ restoration expected by around 9:30 a.m.
“This is an extremely unusal event,” McReynolds said. “It was very difficult to locate the break, and will take some time to fix permanently.”
