A City of Marietta crew works on a ruptured waterline Friday along Colgate Drive in Marietta. With the cold weather and icy conditions, some local communities are experiencing broken lines as a result of the cold and shifting ground moving older pipes. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — A number of communities were experiencing broken water lines on Friday due to cold and ice shifting the ground and moving waterlines.

Line ruptures have been reported in Parkersburg, Marietta and Belpre with crews out Thursday and Friday repairing lines.

Eric Bennett, general manager of the Parkersburg Utility Board, said they had three or four line breaks crews were working on.

He knew of one on Ridgway Avenue and one on Edgelawn Street. The other two were smaller breaks that were not main line breaks. All of them were fixed by Friday afternoon, he said.

“It is all just shifting underground,” Bennett said.

He said the age of the pipes and the material the pipes are made of along with the cold and icy conditions are factors in whether the pipes move or shift underground.

“It is cold, the ground is moving and old pipes are breaking,” Bennett said.

Marietta had two line ruptures on Friday along Colgate Drive and at Eighth and Montgomery streets, according to an alert sent out Friday morning from the Marietta Water Treatment Plant. The Colgate line had service restored by Friday afternoon, a plant official said. A message left Friday afternoon regarding the status of the break at Eighth and Montgomery streets was not returned by press time.

Vienna Mayor Chad Emrick said they did not have anything happening Friday in regards to waterlines.

“We have not had any service line issues (because of the cold),” he said.

The city is keeping an eye out and will address any if they present themselves, Emrick added.

“We are lucky we haven’t had anything happen,” he said.

Williamstown Mayor Paul Jordan said they have been fortunate with the recent winter storm system with only a “few minor issues and nothing major.”

“We are keeping our fingers crossed,” he said.

Belpre had a line break along Washington Boulevard near the Washington Square plaza on Thursday with crews out working on it, Belpre Safety Service Director Brian Rhodes said.

He could not say for sure if the break was caused by the weather as they have occasional line breaks throughout the year at different locations. It can depend on a lot of different factors.

“The water leak has been repaired,” Rhodes said. “They were successfully able to wrap the pipe and fill the hole back in.”

The city did not have any additional known leaks on Friday, he said. Otherwise city crews are still dealing with ice on some of the side streets. The main routes, including Washington Boulevard, are pretty much clear.

“Street crews were out (Friday) pushing the snow and slush and still working to get the streets in the best condition as possible,” Rhodes said. “There were some mailboxes that were damaged with the amount of snow and ice that got pushed off the side of the road.

“We are taking the issues and complaints as they come along and addressing them one by one.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com