Mayor Richard Sorensen posted a picture to Facebook on Tuesday morning showing the area where the leak occurred along with the declaration, “The leak has been found.”

The trouble began on the night of Dec. 9 when, according to Sorensen, the declining water level in the town’s million-gallon storage tank raised concerns about a potential leak.

Just a handful of days later, a leak was confirmed and the town’s water supply was nearly exhausted.

“Between that Tuesday and Friday, we started telling the residents, ‘Hey, we have a leak, and we need to start conserving water.’ We started bracing them,” Sorensen told the Standard-Examiner. “By Friday evening, we ended up having to shut the line into town all the way off.”

That shutdown resulted in a loss of pressure and the potential for backsiphonage, or reversal of flow, as well as the possible introduction of outside water and contaminants into the town’s system. In response, a boil alert was instituted by the town.

“It will probably remain in effect for five to seven days,” Sorensen said. “There are a lot of state requirements and (Environmental Protection Agency) requirements just to make sure there’s no contamination or bacteria in the lines.”

By Sunday, a temporary water line had been installed as the town continued to work on a fix. Pinpointing the location of the leak proved difficult for officials, who employed thermal imaging, sonar and ground sound testing, utility potholing and the introduction of dyes into the water lines in an effort to locate the break.

Sorensen said the circumstances leading to the break were described to him as a “perfect storm” of cold weather/freezing ground and wear within the line.

According to Sorensen, the last of the materials needed for work were being brought into town Tuesday and the repairs were expected to be completed by the afternoon.

In the wake of the incident, Sorensen offered his gratitude to all those who helped the town amid the loss of its water supply.

“We want to thank all the cities and organizations and volunteers who helped us through this crisis,” he said.

Sorensen added that Ogden City and other local municipalities, the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, Associated Food Stores and Lee’s Marketplace all made donations of water or equipment, and that help was offered from cities as far away as Midway.