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Yonkers Praises Workers As Water Service Restored

YONKERS, N.Y. – A little more than 48 hours after Monday’s water main rupture, water is once again running in southwest Yonkers.

“Roads are open and water is coming back," Mayor Mike Spano said Wednesday afternoon in a press conference outside City Hall. "You'll be able to drink it in the next day or so, but the bottom line is the quality of life in Yonkers is back."

Crews worked around the clock to repair the broken water main, and after a successful testing of the system early Wednesday afternoon, the city’s deemed the replacement ready for action, Spano said.

The announcement brings an end to two days of limited or no water service for an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Yonkers residents. However, Westchester County’s boil water advisory likely will remain in effect for southwest Yonkers until at least Friday, the mayor said.

The Cross County Parkway was reopened early Wednesday along with two lanes of the southbound Saw Mill River Parkway after a day and a half of being closed. Yonkers Police Commissioner Charles Gardner said traffic in the area has “greatly improved.”

“Traffic is moving through the area with minor delays,” he said late Wednesday morning.

Monday afternoon’s water main break, along the southbound Saw Mill River Parkway near Wendover Road, disrupted traffic and water service in southwest Yonkers. Officials have said a private contractor accidentally broke the 30-inch water main while installing fiber-optic cables.

Crews ran into trouble Tuesday night when they had been unable to fix the broken water main as hoped. But after working around the clock, with some crew members sleeping for only a few hours in city work trucks, officials said they had solved the problem.

“It was a team effort,” said Thomas Meier, commissioner of public works. “We were a little concerned at times, but everything worked out.”

City officials said it was originally thought that fixing the pipe could take up to a week. They praised firefighters, police and city workers for working together to keep the city running and finish the repair in a matter of days.

“The work that was done in the last 48 hours was nothing short of spectacular,” City Council member Christopher Johnson said.

Throughout the two-day disruption, city officials set up water distribution stations at several locations around southwest Yonkers and handed out an estimated 8,000 bottles of water to senior citizens and nursing homes.

Gardner said the distribution stations will remain in place until the county’s boil water advisory has been lifted.

Spano said Wednesday that the city was waiting for water service to be restored before it began to look at who was to blame or consider recovering costs.

“After this is repaired and we are able to get water up and running throughout the City of Yonkers, we are going to then look at why this happened, who is responsible and are there avenues for funding in that area,” he said in a late morning press conference. “We will address that and go after that.”

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