A busted water line in Benicia that forced the city to reduce its water use for nearly a week has been repaired and residents are no longer required to conserve water, the city said.

Last Wednesday, Benicia’s drinking water line experienced significant damage and all residents were immediately required to reduce their water use by 40% as the community went into a Stage 4 Critical Water Shortage alert.  

The damage occurred near Goodyear Road and Morrow Lane and was unrelated to the 2023 incident near Interstate Highway 680 and Gold Hill Road, which also affected the city’s water supply.   

“We are pleased to announce that the Raw Water Transmission Line main break on Goodyear Road has been successfully repaired, and water is once again flowing from one of our primary sources,” said the city on Tuesday.   

City staff are still investigating the cause of the break and will share the findings once they are available, they said.  

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.