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SANTUC — Some customers of the Santuck-Hebron Water Company are being urged to boil their water in the wake of a water line break early this morning.

In a notice released this morning, the company “advises its customers in the Santuc, Carlisle, and Whitmire area of Union to vigorously boil their water for at least one (1) full minute prior to drinking or cooking. These customers only are involved in the boil water advisory. The advisory is due to a 6’ water main break on Whitmire Highway near Tinker Creek Road. There is the possibility that contaminates may have entered the system. Line flushing is in progress and should resolve this situation.”

The notice stresses that “there has been no confirmed contamination of the system. However, because of the loss of pressure, the potential for contamination exists.”

It further states that “the laboratory has been contacted to gather the needed samples and customers will be notified when the boil water advisory has been lifted.”

Officer Manager Anita Smith said that she was first notified of the water line break at 2:30 a.m. when a customer called her and said they had no water. Smith said she her husband, Whitney, a member of the company’s board of directors, went looking for the broken water line. They were unable to find it and so contacted the company’s contractor, Dever Solomon, and directed him to find the broken line which he did around 6:30 a.m.

Smith said before work repairing the line could begin, the contractor called in a locator to find any telephone, cable and other underground lines in the area so excavation could be done safely. She said the repairs are now underway but she could not say when it would be completed.

Approximately half of Santuck-Hebron’s 1,300 customers are effected by the boil water notice. Most of those covered by the boil water notice are still getting water, but Smith said approximately 10 households are currently without water.

Anyone with questions about the boil water notice should call the office of the Santuck-Hebron Water Company at (864) 429-0807 or (864) 427-8759.