A land shift threatening the stability of one of the city’s main water lines was on overnight watch, with work scheduled to resume this morning.

The shift occurred underneath Washington Street, near the MV Mississippi IV.

“This is as serious as it gets, and we’re working feverishly to stabilize that slope and make sure we don’t lose that line,” North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said Friday afternoon. He was acting as mayor pro-tem because Mayor Paul Winfield was out of town.

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As of Friday night, water service in the city continued to flow. However, if the 36-inch concrete water main located about three feet below the street were to burst, service to the entire city could be lost, Mayfield confirmed.

“Citizens may choose to take precautionary measures, such as rationing and storing additional water supplies in the event of any unforeseen issues,” said City Emergency Management Director Anna Booth in a prepared statement. “At this time, the situation is under control.”

The land shift was discovered Friday morning by contract workers who have been doing ground work on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Interpretive Center just north of the MV Mississippi IV, said Corps spokesman Kavanaugh Breazeale.

“This is not a big issue yet, and we’re just trying to make sure it doesn’t turn into one,” Breazeale said. “We’re doing what it takes to make sure it doesn’t slide anymore.”

Beginning about 9 a.m. Friday, dump truck after dump truck hauled sand to the site, where bulldozers pushed the sand against the base of the slope beneath the slide. Above the slide, Washington Street suffered several cracks as wide as six inches and as long as five parking spaces. The large cracks were sealed, said Mayfield.

“Right now, we feel comfortable that it has stopped sliding,” said city Public Works Director Bubba Rainer.

Rainer said work to temporarily stabilize the failing slope would likely continue today, and at that point city officials would begin discussing with the Corps and its contractor a permanent solution.

A Corps civil engineer on site Friday night, said crews had left about 9:25, and would resume work this morning. Meanwhile, the site would be on 24-hour watch with measurements taken hourly.

City officials would not speculate on the cause of the land shift, saying they were still investigating. Breazeale speculated it had more to do with recent rains than with ground work on the developing museum, near the slide, that has been ongoing since November.

“Some people will say it must have been caused by the construction, but mainly it’s because of the weather,” he said.

Storms moved into the area early Thursday morning and lasted until about midday. The next chance for rain is a week from today.

Mississippi Emergency Management Officials were also at the site of the slide Friday, and Mayfield said the paperwork to declare an emergency in the city had been drawn up if needed. Declaring an emergency frees officials to authorize large expenditures without convening in a special called meeting, and makes it easier for state agencies to assist in the response efforts.

In September 2006, a break on the same water line next to Anderson-Tully Company off North Washington Street left residents without water for 24 hours and cost the city about $60,000 to repair.

The water main is the primary line from the city’s water plant on Haining Road, which draws its water from several nearby wells. The main line along Washington Street splits into two 24-inch lines running in opposite directions near Jackson Street. From there, the system branches out into webs of 18-, 10- and 8-inch lines.

About 3 million gallons of water run through the system at any one time, distributing water to roughly 10,000 metered connections in the city. The city also sells some water to area water districts, but most draw the majority of their water from their own wells.

Reached Friday evening, Winfield said he and Police Chief Walter Armstrong had been in Olive Branch, visiting the police department there. The mayor planned to return to town Friday evening.

Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com