Water main repaired along Garland Street

BANGOR – Water service was restored Saturday to an estimated 50 to 100 Bangor Water District customers, who had been without it since a 20-inch water main broke the day before.

Water district crews worked through Friday night and Saturday morning to repair the break, according to Greg Reed, assistant superintendent of the Bangor Water District. Service was restored to the neighborhood about 4 a.m. Saturday.

District officials originally suspected frost as the break’s cause, Reed said. The cause now is believed to have resulted from the weight of pieces of granite found lying on top of it or failure of the main itself – part of a 125-year-old cast-iron distribution system that once carried water from the Thomas Hill Standpipe to the Bangor Waterworks.

An estimated 500,000 gallons of water escaped as a result of the break, Reed said.

The resulting rush of water filled the basements of seven homes near the intersection of Garland and Fruit streets, eroded lawns and driveways, and prompted the early closing of two nearby schools.