Tennessee American repairing Lookout Mountain water main

January 24, 2015 at 1:00 a.m. | Updated January 23, 2015 at 10:14 p.m.

by Staff Report

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power "Y" shaped juncture where a water rupture occurred, involving two main trunk lines is seen on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles Thursday, July 31, 2014. Work crews have stopped the last of the water gushing from a 30-inch pipe some 30 hours after it burst. Damage costs have yet to be pegged from the rupture of the pipeline that spewed more than 20 million gallons of water in the midst of California's worst drought in decades. The break in the 93-year-old pipe left a swath of the UCLA campus including its basketball arena swamped with water. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power "Y" shaped juncture where a water rupture occurred, involving two main trunk lines is seen on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles Thursday, July 31, 2014. Work crews have stopped the last of the water gushing from a 30-inch pipe some 30 hours after it burst. Damage costs have yet to be pegged from the rupture of the pipeline that spewed more than 20 million gallons of water in the midst of California's worst drought in decades. The break in the 93-year-old pipe left a swath of the UCLA campus including its basketball arena swamped with water. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Tennessee American Water Co. crews worked Friday to weld shut a steel water main that broke underground on Lookout Mountain.

Water crews set about welding the broken line Friday afternoon, and company spokeswoman Daphne Kirksey expected water to be restored to affected customers Friday night.

A hiker spotted the break Wednesday night in a forested area off Sanders Road, which connects Ochs Highway and Scenic Highway.

The company sent workers out Thursday morning to find the break, citing potential safety hazards of sending the search crew out Wednesday in the dark. Crews found the break and then had to dig to the line by hand. They found a 10- to 12-inch broken steel line.

Steel lines are typical for use along mountains, said Kirksey. "It's never really an exact science what causes a main break," she said.

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