The city of Vicksburg may have to turn off the water to fix a break in the city’s 47-year-old main 36-inch waterline on North Washington Street that occurred late Wednesday afternoon, Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said this morning.

“All I can tell you right now is that we have a leak,” he said. “We won’t know what caused it until we can get to it and see what happened and what parts we’ll need. At some point we may have to turn the water off to fix it.”

He said the leak was reported about 5 p.m. Wednesday in the northbound outside lane of North Washington between Fort Hill National Cemetery and Haining Road. City water mains workers tried to suppress the water gushing from the line, and traffic on North Washington was reduced from four to two lanes.

Van Norman said he did not anticipate having to shut down the waterline for a long period of time, adding the city will be able to supply water to its customers using the water tanks.

“We can keep the water off for about three hours before we start losing customers,” said.

He said the city has hired Hemphill Construction Co. of Florence to repair the line, because the city does not have the expertise or the equipment to repair a waterline that size.

“When you have a break in a line that big, you need someone who’s equipped to handle it,” he said.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said the Board of Mayor and Aldermen declared an emergency and hired Hemphill by a telephone vote. The state’s open meetings act allows teleconference meetings for emergencies and a record must be kept of the meeting.

Flaggs said the board would have an 11:30 a.m. special meeting Thursday to ratify the action.

The waterline break is the latest in a series of problems with the city’s water system. Power outages at the water treatment plant on Haining Road in August and November forced city officials to issue boil water notices each time.