ARGYLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Crews in Argyle tried to make sure the water main break only affected an isolated area, rather than having to shut down water to the entire town.

Water stopped flowing to this Washington County town over the past few days as crews were installing six new valves. The goal was isolating potential water main breaks to avoid widespread disruptions like closing down schools.

Even so, the valve replacement forced schools to close and go virtual, but Argyle School District Superintendent James Bennefield said the work is necessary. “This has been an ongoing issue—the village of Argyle not having valves in the system,” he said. “They should reduce having to close schools down in the entire village, should there be any water issues in the future.”

Bennefield added that his schools were well prepared for the closure. “We prepared our students to be virtual today,” he said. “We have been working with students during the week to make sure that they were able to get onto Google Meet, how to log on, how to do everything and make sure they were working properly. And our teachers and our staff did a great job.”

Water was scheduled to be shut off from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., but construction officials said the process was expedited and let water flow again starting at 9 a.m. Argyle Water Commissioner Gary Robinson released a boil-water order at that went into effect at 6 a.m.

The school superintendent said that in-person classes should resume Thursday. Officials also said that construction will continue tomorrow as well.