The Saxonburg Area Authority is urging its customers to conserve water while crews search for a major water leak.

The authority has about 1,100 water customers in Saxonburg and Jefferson and Clinton townships.

Authority engineer Paul Cornetti said this morning that the leak could be anywhere along the 14.5-mile main line between the water plant in Clinton Township and the authority's wells in Harmar, Allegheny County.

Authority workers detected the leak Sunday morning when checking water pressure gauges in the Saxonburg garage. Usually pumping in 300 gallons of water per minute, the gauge read only 60 gallons per minute. The pressure was down to 40 gallons per minute this morning.

If the leak is not found today, schools and some manufacturing plants might be closed Tuesday due to the diminishing water supply. Cornetti said he's confident the leak would be found today.