Water service was restored across North Chattanooga and Red Bank after a main break near Normal Park Elementary disrupted service for nearly two hours Monday morning. Tennessee American Water said emergency repairs began around 7:30 a.m. and expected completio
By the time Monday morning settled in, families in North Chattanooga and Red Bank were dealing with a problem they couldn’t ignore: their water wasn’t coming through the way it normally does.
Tennessee American Water said a reported major water main break began causing disruptions across a large section of the area. and in a message texted to customers at 8 a.m. emergency repairs were underway. The utility said crews started repairs around 7:30 a.m. and expected the work to take about five hours to finish.
For customers in the affected area, the consequences were immediate and varied. The utility warned that people may experience low water pressure, discolored water, cloudy water, or, in some cases, no water at all.
Based on the utility’s service map, the disruption stretched across much of Red Bank and North Chattanooga, including areas north of the Tennessee River to the Lupton City neighborhood. It also appeared to include the Northshore, Mountain Creek, Stuart Heights/Rivermont and Alpine Heights areas.
Even after repairs are underway, water situations can linger in unexpected ways. Tennessee American Water said that once repairs are complete, temporary water quality changes are possible. If water is discolored, the utility recommended running cold water from the lowest faucet in the home. If the water appears cloudy, customers were told to run cold water from the highest faucet. In both cases, the utility said the condition should clear after three to five minutes.
Customers were also asked to stay away from repair crews while they worked.
Hours later, the disruption began to ease. In an update. Tennessee American Water reported that water service was restored for customers in North Chattanooga and Red Bank after a main break near Normal Park Elementary disrupted service for close to two hours Monday morning. Tennessee-American Spokeswoman Daphne Kirksey said in an email that there was a main break on Mississippi Avenue that has now been repaired.
Kirksey said water is being restored while crews run hydrants to clear the line from the air.
The utility also said customers can learn more through a link it provided in its communications and asked the public to be patient as crews worked to bring service back to normal.
The exact number of customers affected was still being determined after the utility was contacted for details. with a promise to share the response if and when it was received. For now. the focus for many households is simple: checking whether the water runs clear. and waiting the few minutes the utility says it should take to stabilize.
Chattanooga water outage North Chattanooga Red Bank Tennessee American Water Mississippi Avenue main break Normal Park Elementary water restoration hydrants cloudy water discolored water
So basically no water for 2 hours??
I saw the text at 8am and thought it was a scam at first. Then my shower was like… nope. Discolored water is nasty though, I hope they really flushed it good.
Wait they said run cold water from the lowest faucet for discolored, but cloudy is from the highest?? That sounds backwards. I’m just gonna run everything for like 30 minutes and hope for the best, bc the instructions are confusing.
Unreal. Every time there’s a “main break” it’s always somebody acts surprised like water lines just randomly explode for fun. Also why is it only North Chattanooga/Red Bank… is the rest fine or they just didn’t text us? Glad it ended though, but 2 hours is enough to mess up laundry and drinking water.