A series of water main breakages continues to disrupt business for several Douglass Loop establishments, including Heine Bros. Coffee. The popular local microroastery has been closed since early Saturday morning, with patrons invited to visit one of their other Highlands-area locations.
Pizza and sandwich shop Fat Jimmy’s has had intermittent operations since the disruption, reopening on Sunday only to close again on Monday. As of the time of this writing, it is open again. “They’re working on it now,” says assistant manager Justin Edwards.
Like Fat Jimmy’s, Graeter’s, the ice cream shop next door, has been making do with the limited liquid output. “We at the Douglass Loop shopping center were the ones the most impacted,” says a Graeter’s employee who declined to give his identity. “But we brought in and boiled water so we could sanitize everything.”
Desserts by Helen also remains closed.
According to Kelley Dearing-Smith, manager of strategic communications at the Louisville Water Company, water main breaks in the city’s 4,100 miles of pipe aren’t unusual, but this past weekend’s frequency was. “We had one break on Friday, then another on the 17th, and a third this morning in the same general area” in the 2200 block of Bardstown Road. “It is very unusual for that to happen. We’re making the repairs, but some businesses have had a boil water advisory, which you do as a precaution when the water pressure drops so low.”
Although Dearing-Smith couldn’t give a definite reason for the breaks, she does stress that virtually all of Louisville Metro’s pipes are healthy. “The pipes were cleaned and lined in 1995, and for the life of it it’s in very good shape,” she says of the Highlands-area mains, which were installed in the early 1900s. “We’re working on it, and [area businesses] will have water any time now, but it’ll take awhile to completely fix it.”
No one at Heine Bros.’ corporate office was available for comment, but Deer Park-area customers may check the company’s Facebook page for updates as they happen.
Contact the author at leecopywriting@gmail.com or www.leecopywriting.com.
Photo: Courtesy Heine Bros. Coffee
