By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
City of Bowie water and street crews were working virtually non-stop throughout the weekend dealing with major water line breaks across the city, one resulting in a partial water boil order expected to run until Thursday.
Public Works Director Stony Lowrance said drought conditions are causing major ground shifts, which move waterlines and for some of the older castiron pipes a small movement can create a major break. All of these breaks were on castiron
The first of nine major line breaks were seen in Saturday’s Bowie News when a 12-inch line cracked at Pecan and Mason on Aug. 10. That section of the street has been closed as they wait to make sure the repair holds and work with the Texas Department of Transportation on repairs to its Farm-to-Market Road 1816 (Pecan).
The next day another leak came to the surface also on Pecan and Mason, but in the intersection on the east side of Mason. It was an eight-inch castiron water line. Repairs began on this Saturday and it was only the beginning of a series of major breaks.
Next was an eight-inch break at Tarrant and Cooper, followed by a line repair and hydrant replacement in the 1300 block of Mill and State Highway 59. Lowrance said there was a crack in the line where it goes into the fire hydrant, so they just repaired both. When this line was shut down it resulted in a boil order for this area north of the break.
A test was run Monday and set to Wichita Falls, and the partial boil order north out of town was lifted Tuesday afternoon.
There was a six-inch line break on Greenwood and Hwy. 59, that created a 12-foot hole under the road.

Read the full story all the weekend repairs in your mid-week Bowie News.