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Worcester Water Main Break Repaired

11/14 Update: Phil Garron, with the Worcester Public Works Department:

It's all over. The boil water order has been lifted for the city of Worcester and the Elm Hill water district in Auburn that we serve.

Original post:

WORCESTER, Mass. — Crews have fixed a major water main break that denied the entire city of Worcester water.

The 30-inch main near Worcester State University was fixed early Tuesday morning.

The city is now working on restoring pressure to the system.

Officials warn that pressure may be low at first and the water coming out of the faucets may be dark in color. They are encouraging residents to run their water until it is clear and have issued a 24-hour boil order for water intended for consumption.

The break on Monday afternoon forced Worcester officials to shut down the water supply to the entire city.

Worcester State is closed Tuesday while Worcester public schools are opening two hours later than normal.

Phillip Guerin, the city's director of environment systems, said the main that broke was installed in the 1920s, but he doesn't know if its age played a role in the break.

"Over time things do happen," Guerin said. "We don't know what actually caused this to break. Those things happen and this just happened to be a real large main that broke."

With reporting by The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom

This program aired on November 13, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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