TACOMA — A 16-inch pipe broke Tuesday night on the Tacoma Tideflats, leaving the city’s biggest water customer, the RockTenn paper mill, out of service until it can be repaired.
Tacoma Public Utilities spokeswoman Chris Gleason says the main gushed water for a couple of hours before it could be turned off. That left a big hole in the street, at E. Portland Ave. and E. 11th St., just outside the former Simpson kraft mill, which makes paper for cardboard boxes.
No word yet on the cause of the break or cost.
No residences are affected. Employees at about a dozen businesses in the area are advised to boil drinking water as precaution.
Gleason says if residents see brown water in the tap, they should just let it run until it’s clear.