Old water line breaks, leaving Bellingham’s southside without running water

A massive water main break in the Happy Valley neighborhood left thousands residents without running water Friday afternoon.

Mocha-colored water gushed like a 2-foot-deep river from the broken pipe around noon at Donovan Avenue and 26th Street in the Happy Valley neighborhood. Up the hill Western Washington University lost running water throughout all of campus, as did many people in the surrounding neighborhoods.