West Escambia Utilities employees and other officials worked Friday to fix a broken water main under South Main Street, and traffic was slowed for most of that morning and afternoon.

Tom Wolfe, manager of West Escambia Utilities, said that the change in temperatures caused a water main to crack Thursday evening, but workers waited until Friday morning to work on the problem. He said it would have been difficult to fix Thursday evening, because of the darkness and it would have been harder to control the traffic flow.

Workers placed out traffic cones and began working at 8 a.m., Wolfe said. By uncovering the road over the main, water began to spray high up into the air as workers made efforts to patch the leak.

Wolfe said one house’s water supply was affected by the repair work, but did not believe any other water supplies were out. Work was completed on the project at about 4 p.m. Friday, and traffic returned to normal.

Wolfe also praised his employees for working during the recent snow days, noting that one used his personal four-wheel drive pickup truck to check to be sure there were no problems in the water system.

Other employees stayed at the utilities headquarters, in case they were needed for emergencies.

“Our employees take ownership in the system; they feel like it’s ‘their system,'” he said. “We have a lot of people who take pride in making sure that everything is working properly, and they made a lot of sacrifices earlier this week while a lot of other people were staying home.”