A contractor cutting the ruptured main at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Below, a replacement for the 36-inch main ready for installation at the site, on Rumson Place in Little Silver. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

An unspecified number of of homes and businesses in Little Silver and towns east remained without water service Saturday evening.

Meantime, New Jersey American Water Company ended the boil-water alert issued following the early morning rupture of a 36-inch main on Rumson Place in Little Silver.

As of 7:30 p.m., work crews had pumped standing water from around the broken main and were cutting it for removal.

A short time later, the company issued this statement:

The precautionary Boil Water Advisory for our customers in your area has been lifted, with the exception of our customers on the following streets in Little Silver: Rumson Place, Garden Road, Pinckney Road, Branch Avenue, Spring Street, Fox Hill Drive, Silverwhite Avenue, Alden Terrace, Standish Road, Salem Lane and Bennett Lane. With the exception of our customers on those streets, you may stop boiling your tap water prior to use, and may resume using your water service normally. For more information visit our website at www.newjerseyamwater.com, under the Alerts Notifications section, our Facebook page, or call our customer service center (800) 272-1325. Thank you for your patience as we made the necessary repairs to your water service.

In a separate announcement, the company says, “we anticipate that water service will be restored by mid-morning tomorrow.”

As of noon, about 100 customers in Fair Haven, Little Silver and Rumson had no water service, and “a few thousand” others were experiencing low pressure NJ American spokesman Peter Eschbach told redbankgreen. He expected gradual reduction in that figure throughout the day.

Eschbach could not be reached Saturday evening for updated figures.

Earlier reports that the outage affected customers in Red Bank and Shrewsbury were disputed by officials in both towns.