By Tim Eberly
A water main break on the northwest side of the Hill County Courthouse on Tuesday afternoon has left courthouse employees temporarily without water.
"I noticed water coming through the walls," said Rich Ricci, the building manager.
By this morning, water had seeped into the courthouse basement, prompting Ricci to shut off the water flow at 8 a.m. and hire Patrick Construction to fix the problem.
"The biggest inconvenience to the building is that we don't have any water in there," Hill County Commissioner Doug Kaercher said.
Portable toilets were available on the east side of the courthouse for employees.
Several employees of Patrick Construction had carved out a 6-foot hole next to a diesel tank, which had to be defueled because of its proximity to the digging.
At 11 a.m., Ricci and employees of the construction company had not located the source of the leak.
"I think once they find the break, it's a fairly simple fix," Kaercher said as he watched the men work.
Ricci said the project could be completed by 5 p.m.
"It just depends on where the leak is," Ricci said. "If it's under the concrete, we have to take that out."
On Monday about noon, a water line break occurred at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and 14th Street West while city workers attempted to equip a new residence with water.
Though it was fixed by 5 p.m., the broken water line dampened the mood of one new homeowner. "It flooded where they were putting in a foundation for a new residence," public works director Dave Peterson said.
