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Water Main Break Closes Part Of Busy Downtown Street

Randy Gorbman
/
WXXI News

A water main break  temporarily shut down a busy section of a downtown Rochester Street. It happened Wednesday morning on State Street, just north of Main Street. City Water Bureau Director Bob Morrison says the break was in a 20 inch main which is part of a system that distributes water for fire protection. He says those pipes have been in the ground for a long time.

"It was originally installed in 1874 and is still in very good condition, but occasionally we do have main breaks and it is a pump system, so most of the water in the Rochester system is gravity fed, so when it breaks, it does significant damage ."

Morrison says the break spilled around 200,000 gallons of water, and also damaged some of the pavement. It's expected that section of State, between Main and Church, will be closed at least until Thursday morning .

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.