A contractor working on the Route 690 bridge demolition struck a water main in Purcellville on Tuesday, cutting pressure to the town's system and forcing officials to issue a townwide boil water advisory around 10:45 a.m. The break happened right at the Route 7 and Route 690 project site, on the very day crews were scheduled to begin tearing into the bridge as part of a long-planned highway interchange overhaul.
Loudoun County Supervisor Caleb Kershner reported the break, posting about the incident around 11:45 a.m., according to WJLA. The station reports the main was repressurized after the advisory went out, and that local officials, along with the Virginia Department of Health, flushed the water system afterward. Purcellville residents and businesses were told to boil their water in the meantime, and the station notes that local and state health officials expect the townwide advisory to be lifted before the week is out.
A System That Serves More Than 10,000 People
The stakes of a main break in Purcellville go well beyond a single street. The town's public water system serves roughly 10,178 residents across more than 3,000 service connections, drawing from nine wells and the 29-million-gallon J.T. Hirst Reservoir, which has an operational capacity of 300,000 gallons per day, according to the Town of Purcellville.
That same municipal network directly supplies five Loudoun County Public Schools campuses: Woodgrove High School, Loudoun Valley High School, Blue Ridge Middle School, Mountain View Elementary, and Emerick Elementary, per the town's own water system documentation. Because those schools draw from the same central utility grid as every home and business in town, a depressurization event like Tuesday's break immediately becomes a districtwide concern, not just a neighborhood inconvenience.
Guidance For Households Without Power To Boil Water
Purcellville's public advisory, issued the same day as the break, included guidance for residents who cannot boil their water. Officials said households without power or gas can disinfect tap water by adding eight drops, or about a quarter teaspoon, of unscented 5.25 percent liquid household bleach per gallon and letting it stand for 30 minutes, as reported by the Blue Ridge Leader. Boiling water for a full minute remains the primary recommended method, according to the same advisory.
The advisory was expected to remain in place while officials flushed the water system. That process helps explain why officials were projecting the advisory could stretch toward the end of the week rather than being lifted immediately after repressurization.
Bridge Demolition Began The Same Day as the Break
The timing of Tuesday's water main break lines up precisely with the start of major construction activity at the site. Loudoun County had scheduled the first phase of Route 690 bridge demolition and reconstruction over Route 7 to begin that same day, according to county project updates. That phase requires narrowing travel lanes on Route 690 over Route 7 for two to three weeks, allowing crews to demolish and rebuild one side of the bridge while keeping traffic moving through a modified alignment.
The bridge work is one piece of a larger Route 7/Route 690 interchange project, funded in part through Virginia's Smart Scale program, designed to build roundabouts and route traffic away from downtown Purcellville, per Loudoun County. The county was expected to award a $41.6 million major construction contract for the project to Shirley Contracting, and a May 1 groundbreaking and nearby construction were also reported. The broader interchange effort is slated for substantial completion by early 2029, according to Ashburn Patch.
A Town Already Managing Its Water Supply Closely
Tuesday's break underscores how closely Purcellville tracks its water system, even in ordinary times, let alone during an unplanned main break tied to active construction next to a town well and reservoir network that serves the entire community.
