NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Almost one week after a catastrophic water main break at the corner of 47th and Niagara Falls Boulevard, repair work is finally getting underway.

Niagara Falls Water Board Superintendent Bob Drury says the challenge was finding the right contractor to do the work.

"What we're doing out here right now is we're isolating the main, that means shutting down the water to it so that they're able to take a sample to make sure that they've got the right  type of parts to do this repair. They're a strong company, very reputable company that gets a lot of work like this, professionals in this field and they want to be assured that they're dealing with the right type of pipe," said Drury.

Drury says the break was discovered last Friday. It caused major disruptions to service at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center and Niagara Falls High School. Service has since been restored, but Drury says the city is not out of the woods just yet. Freezing temperatures and an aging infrastructure makes the city susceptible to breaks.

Drury says there have been four major breaks in the past three months. And this week, crews repaired breaks of the Boulevard near 70th Street and another one on 38th near Packard.

"We're out on this on a daily basis, doing repairs, making sure that we're fixing anything that arises when it arises. But, when we have a severe polar freeze that we're having right now, I mean I just got out of my truck and it's five degrees. [We’re] standing out here and we're feeling it, and when you're going to have that severe, quick cold, pipes are going to shift, things are going to break," said Drury.

Drury says freezing temperatures notwithstanding, he expects the work to be finished in about two weeks. He says he doesn't expect any major disruptions to service while the work is being done.