Damaged main leaves about 100 homes without water for 15 hours

Trinidad Utilities says a water main that broke about 12 miles west of town Monday has been fixed.

About 100 homes immediately west of the break were without water for 15 waters. The utility says it’s because a section of pipe had to be drained so that repairs could be made.

The main that broke is the primary transmission line from the city’s water treatment plant, which is about 20 miles west of town in the Stonewall area.

Trinidad did not experience any water outages, but people who live in the city are asked to avoid irrigating and watering outside as a precaution.

Utilities Director Mike Valentine says the damaged section of pipe was likely put in the ground prior to 1960, and age is believed to be the cause of the problem.

Valentine says workers that woke up at 5 a.m. Monday to begin their shift ended up working all night Monday and into Tuesday morning to make repairs.

Trinidad is located on I-25 about 130 miles south of Colorado Springs.