Main break cuts off water in Louisville

More than 1,500 buildings in downtown Louisville, Ky., lacked safe water Tuesday morning after a water-main break flooded a university, officials said. Chris Poynter, spokesman for Mayor Greg Fischer, told the Louisville Courier-Journal the air conditioning was out at the old Jefferson County Courthouse, and workers were drinking bottled water. The Kentucky Derby Museum shut all its water fountains and offered visitors bottled water. The break occurred around 6:20 p.m. Monday and flooded parts the University of Louisville's Belknap campus with several feet of water. Six people trapped inside in the Thrust Theatre building had to be rescued. In one intersection, a lake formed as 30 million to 40 million gallons spilled. "This is like a sink, where the water is collecting in a bowl right now," said Kelley Dearing Smith of the Louisville Water Co. "This is a big one." Utility president Greg Heitzman said the break happened at the intersection of two 48-inch pipes. The problem was located within a half hour, and the last of three large valves was shut off soon after 9 p.m.