BIDDEFORD — Crews have been working to repair a water main break on Alfred Street since late Sunday afternoon, officials said this morning.

“We’re still working on things,” Rick Knowlton, vice president of operations for the Maine Water Company, said at about 8 this morning. “We should have water back to everyone by noontime.”

Traffic on Alfred Street, or Route 111, will remain squeezed down to one lane westbound and one lane eastbound while the work is taking place, he added.

Knowlton said that fewer than 20 customers were affected by this break, which occurred underneath an automobile repair shop at 460 Alfred St. just before 4 p.m. Sunday.

The Biddeford Fire Department was called to the scene first, Fire Captain Jason Wheeler said this morning.

“We were called for the problem by people going by the address in regard to water coming out into the street,” he said. “Crews went out to investigate and they found out it was a water main break; it was not from the building itself.”

Only Maine Water customers in the immediate area ”“ roughly between Pomerleau Street and Barra Road ”“ lost water, said Knowlton.

Wheeler added that Southern Maine Health Care, just a couple of blocks away, retained running water throughout the ordeal.

“I know the hospital did not lose water. They rerouted and shut some valves down so they could still have water there,” he said.

Mayor Alan Casavant took to social media Sunday night to alert residents of the problem.

“The break is likely to run through the evening and into the early morning hours,” Casavant wrote on Facebook. “The customers along that short stretch of Alfred (Street), along with customers on Arena Drive and Pomerleau Street, will be without water until the repairs have been completed.”

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].