About 300 residents in Catawba were without water Thursday and will need to boil their water for drinking and cooking until further notice after a water main break.

Board of Public Affairs Clerk Linda Addis said the break happened while Ohio Edison was doing some work on Champaign Street.

“To be able to get it repaired they had to shut some lines down,” she said. That caused the water tower to empty.

Addis said the leak has been fixed and crews are now working to refill the water tower. It should be filled by morning, but residents will need to boil their water until further notice.

Next steps will be to add chlorine and then take samples for testing.

Addis said the water board went door to door tonight to alert residents to the situation. She said they will let everyone know when the tests come back and they can stop boiling their water.

“It will be a couple of days as least,” she said.