Mahtomedi water main breaks; residents' taps dry

About a dozen Mahtomedi residents will likely be without water for most of the day Tuesday after one of two water main breaks in the city remains broken.

Monday's water main break on the east part of Oak Grove Lane, near Harmony Drive, has yet to be fixed, according to Bruce Thielen, the city's public works director.

"We hope to have everything all fixed by the end of the day, this evening," he said.

The two water main breaks happened in different parts of Mahtomedi Monday --- another at the intersection of Park Avenue and Locust Street left about 40 people without water from approximately 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday night.

Thielen said the city has about one water main break each year, and two in one day is rare. "It's unusual, but not unheard of," he said. He added that many metro cities are experiencing water main breaks because of the harsh winter leaving a deep frost underground, causing the ground to move and the pipes to shift as the frost melts.

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