45K People in Upstate NY City Will Spend Weekend Without Water

A massive water pipe has burst in an Upstate New York city, leaving an estimated 45,000 residents without clean water for the foreseeable future. Progress is being made on repairing the pipe, but area residents may still be without running water through this weekend.

We've heard from Mayor Jeff Smith and others on where this situation currently stands.

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City of Watertown, NY Waits for Clean Water as Water Main Gets Repaired

Stories penned by The New York Post and New York Upstate shared updates on the water main break that happened in Watertown, New York, which sits one hour north of Syracuse, and is just a stone's throw from the U.S.-Canadian border.

For context, here's a look at it on Google Maps:

The 50-year old pipe, which serves as the water line from the city’s treatment plant, ruptured very early in the morning on Thursday. A health crisis was declared in the city, as crews worked around the clock on Thursday to repair the pipe.

Here are a few photos of the damaged pipe that were posted on X:

The pipe is on its way to being repaired, which is certainly positive news. That said, the city will then have to attempt to re-pressurize the city's water supply. Mayor Jeff Smith said (via NY Upstate) that this will lead to even more main breaks that will need to be fixed.

A boil water notice will be in place for the next few days, and city officials are hopeful that residents will get running water back by the middle of next week.

Local area schools were shut down for the remainder of the day on Thursday, and remained closed on Friday. Area hospitals closed some facilities on Thursday, and also re-scheduled certain procedures that were supposed to happen on Thursday and Friday.

Residents of Colonie, New York dealt with similar restrictions in May of 2023, when a pumping station failure led to a water emergency being declared, and a boil water notice being put into effect.