All but two Greeneville Water Department customers affected by the break in an 8-inch water line early Monday should now have water service, Water Superintendent Laura White said shortly before 8 a.m. today.

White said that the break in the water line is located on Marshall Lane near Tennessee Rt. 70 (the Asheville Highway) and affected customers over an area from Vann Road to the DeBusk Community.

Water service is restored because the Water Department has rerouted water to the area, but the actual water line break has not been restored -- the line cannot be safely reached.

Water Department crews dug at the site all day and until almost 2 a.m. this morning in an effort to reach the break, she said, but were unable to reach it.

White said crews dug more than 30 feet deep into the ground -- the height of a three-story building -- and still had not located the water line.

The Water Department had contracted with Brown & Sons Construction to do some of the deeper digging, which involved construction crew members descending into the hole, White said.

"But after 30 feet it just gets too dangerous," she said this morning.

The Water Department will begin today to lay a new water line. White said that the current water line is too deep, and it is too dangerous to continue attempts to reach it.

It will be at least 48 hours before the new line is fully operational, she said.

They were not able to reach it, she explained, because the place where the underground line is located was further buried (not by the Water Department) a few years ago under a very large amount of fill dirt from a construction project.

White requested that developers and contractors in the future contact the Greeneville Water Department before dumping fill dirt so the Water Department can ensure they do not further bury water lines.