Crews Repair Beggs Water Line Break, Restoring Water Service

About half the town of Beggs was without water Sunday morning following a line break this weekend. Mayor Kathryn Bell reports the public works department found the problem: a large hole in a pipe on the east end of Main Street near Cherokee.

The pipes are around 100 years old, and they have had several breaks since the last large earthquake, Bell said.

"We really believe that probably the earthquake and the shifting of the earth is causing these problems," Bell said Sunday morning. "This is the largest break we've had so far."

Bell said a city crew worked through the night to find the broken line. Water was restored around 1 p.m.

To compound problems, they also had an electricity outage for a while, the mayor said. OG&E had a transmission problem, so that delayed the crews in using a pump to get water away from the line.

Police Chief Bobby Tollette said the ground is very dry which probably also plays a role in the breaks. He said they have plans to bring water into the area if necessary, since the water tank for the town has been depleted over the last week or so, but he hopes it's not necessary.