KEY WEST, Fla. – Much of the Florida Keys lost water pressure after a water main broke, blocking traffic along the main roadway on the chain of islands and forcing businesses to close early. It was the third time a water main broke in the past week in the Florida Keys.
The water leak was first reported Saturday night in an area between Tavernier and Islamorada and was finished being repaired less than 12 hours later, the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority said in a tweet.
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"Customers will gradually see water pressures increase thru out the day," the authority tweeted Sunday morning.
As a precautionary measure, the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority issued a boil water alert through Wednesday once water returned for residents and businesses impacted by the outage.
Traffic on U.S. 1 was diverted to the Old Highway while repairs were made to the water main, but the roadway reopened Sunday morning, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.
The authority next month is embarking on an almost two-year project to replace four miles of the 60-year-old transmission pipe that supplies drinking water to the Florida Keys. The new, larger pipe will better withstand corrosion and the impacts of climate change, the authority said.