Damage from Napa earthquake still disrupts water system

NAPA, Calif. (KGO) -- The South Napa Earthquake is still causing problems, more than two months later. Crews are still working on a broken water main after it ruptured early Friday evening.

This latest water main break is just north of Highway 12 and Highway 29, in Napa. City officials say it's so close to a creek, that crews were unable to fix it Friday night. The good news is that no one has lost their water service from this recent break.

It's the second break along the same 36-inch main this week. At Browns Valley Road and Laurel Street crews are still trying to fix another break that happened over the weekend. All of this is beginning to ware on the nerves of people living in the area.

These water problems are putting a damper on Christie Garko's Wine Country vacation with her friends. She said, "It's just been kind of a problem getting to our house and it's causing a lot of slow traffic. It's been just a little annoyance for us."

Until both ruptures are repaired, Napa City officials say residents could see fluctuations in their water pressure along Foster and Browns Valley Road.

Napa tourist Tara Stocks said, "Well, when the girls were showering today, because there were a lot of us here, you know there's a lot of showers here, but for all of us to shower and rotate it wasn't very good because the pressure was very low and I think because the water main broke."

Now, people are being asked to conserve and avoid unnecessary water use. Napa officials say this is a delayed result from the damage caused by the earthquake on Aug. 24. Public Works has seen more than 150 breaks and leaks since the quake.