MACON, Ga. — Macon Water Authority board member Bill Howell said a crew responded to Sunday’s water main break on Zebulon Road quickly.
"It was a pretty major break on a 16-inch line which supplies a lot of North Macon out this way, Northwest Macon and some of Monroe County customers," he said.
He said small breaks are common.
"We have water leaks, we have pipes bust probably weekly,” Howell said. “It's just, it's usually not a 16-inch pipe. It's usually a three or four-inch pipe that only affects just a small amount of folks."
But this water main break turned the side of Zebulon Road into a river. Howell said the infrastructure in Bibb County is getting old. Some water pipes are 100 years old, and the pipe break on Zebulon was almost 40 years old.
Nearby business owner Chris Cranford said he wishes he found out about the water main break sooner.
"I originally called my plumber, and I was like, ‘Man, why would I have no water pressure to the building?’” Cranford said. “He was like ‘Go check the meter, see if it's just spinning.’ So, I walk out there and then I'm like, ‘Man, I don't see nothing’ and I literally turned around and Zebulon was almost like a river."
His store SL Sausage Company stayed open, but they took extra steps to make it work.
"We had to stay late last night and get the meat room cleaned up,” he said. “When the water came back on this morning, we've had to boil water in the kitchen for anything we've been using for water."
Howell said the Macon Water Authority is working on replacing the older lines at a faster pace.
"Systematically we're going to go through our system and target those areas that need replacing most and we're going to be working on it," Howell said. "You'll see us all over replacing some pipe."
Howell said it’s difficult to get the word out when a water emergency first happens. He recommends checking the Macon Water Authority's Facebook page and website.
"We had to be reactive the other day," he said. "You never know when a pipe is going to bust like this. But we want to be proactive and proactive is taking and replacing sections of pipe that have got the most age on it."
Howell said the boil order is a precaution. They don't believe any contamination got into the lines.