City of Santa Barbara crews work Monday to repair a water valve brake in the first block of East De la Guerra Street. The water for businesses near De la Guerra Plaza was turned off during the repairs.
A broken water valve wreaked havoc Monday on downtown businesses in the De La Guerra Plaza area of Santa Barbara.
According to Nick Galati of the city public works department’s water division, crews were conducting a routine valve exercising program early Monday morning when the broken valve was discovered.
The valve, located in the first block of East De La Guerra Street, was believed to have stopped working around 8 a.m.
Crews worked all day to repair it.
Several businesses, including the News-Press, were left without water throughout the day.
Repairing the valve apparently was not an option.
“This is a valve where you have to go in and replace it,” Mr. Galati told the News-Press.
Mr. Galati went on to say that there was the potential that the public works department’s water division might have to shut down even more water services around De La Guerra Plaza to get the problem resolved, which would leave even more businesses without water.
He specified that three other service connections could be affected.
email: gfall@newspress.com
