A substantial water main break in the Bolivar Drive area had customers without water for a few hours Tuesday morning.

Steve Disney, executive director of the Bradford City Water Authority, explained a call was made to the authority’s emergency on-call number around 5:30 a.m.

“Our on-call person responded and found a substantial water main break at approximately 289 Bolivar Drive,” Disney said. The on-call person was able to locate the shut-off valves and get that area shut down by 6:30 a.m.

“Pennsylvania 811 One-Calls were then executed, and a water authority crew began repairs at approximately 7:30 a.m.,” Disney explained. “The crew found the 8-inch water main had suffered a 360-degree crack around the entire perimeter of the pipe.”

This type of break is believed to be caused by ground movement, so it was likely the onset of cold weather that caused the crack.

“Crews were able to apply a repair clamp and water was restored after a total outage of approximately 3.5 hours,” he added.

Areas that were disrupted included all water customers west of the 200 block of Bolivar Drive including Kenmar Acres and Colonial Heights.

“Customers are reminded that if they have dirty water, they are to allow their cold-water spigots to run until it clears,” Disney said.