After toiling nearly 30 hours, crews finally stop water main break in Concord

CONCORD, N.C. — Dozens of residents in Concord are thankful to be getting water service back after a massive water main break.

Some, including Shonda Davis, have been filling buckets of water from an open fire hydrant, just to be able to wash dishes.

"It's stressful. It's just very stressful," Davis said.

Water gushed into the streets for more than 30 hours before crews were finally able to install a valve to stop the flow.

They were able to repair the break in the 16-inch main under Church Street on Tuesday evening.

City officials said it was a complicated fix because there are so many interconnected pipes in this part of the system, and it's 100 years old.

Some nearby homes had a little bit of water, but many didn't.

The water outage affected several businesses too, including Moyhe Salon, directly across the street from where the repairs were done.

"We have to go buy gallons of water from the Dollar Tree, plug it up here and our customers can't use the toilet," said Whitley Zie, whose family owns the salon.

Now that water service is returning to normal, some are worried the cost of the repairs will be passed on to them.

"You got rivers of water running down the street for two days now and who's going to pay the bill? I guarantee they're going to figure out how to put it on the people," Ronald Thompson said.

City leaders are still adding up how much the repairs cost and said they will likely be covered through the existing budget.

The city provided bottled water to homes and businesses while repairs were being made.

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