Boil water alert lifted in Huron Township

Posted by Scott Bolthouse | The Huron Hub | Oct. 14, 2021 | 10:55 a.m. EDT | Updated 11:30 a.m.

The boil water alert in Huron Township has been officially lifted as of Thursday morning.

A massive water main break occurred last Sunday that required repair and caused a significant drop in water pressure for some residents.

Local schools also closed while the township awaited water quality tests as a precaution.

As of Thursday morning, water in the township was deemed safe by the Great Lakes Water Authority.

“Thank you to the entire community for understanding the reasoning behind our decision. Our resident’s safety is our number one priority and this action was taken to ensure that we maintain that level of service that is promised to every resident within our community,” said Jim Lancaster, director of Huron Township DPW.

According to the Great Lakes Water Authority, after a boil water advisory is lifted, certain steps are recommended before the regular use of water.

Those steps are listed at this website, under “what to do after a boil water advisory is lifted” tab in the water treatment Q & A.

“The safety of our residents is our top priority. We appreciate the community’s patience and understanding as we took the necessary steps to restore our water service responsibly,” said David Glaab, supervisor of Huron Township.

Glaab credits DPW Director Jim Lancaster and his crew with quickly and responsibly addressing the water main break and returning normal and safe water service to township residents.

Glaab said he is also is grateful to Blue Triton Brands, producers of Ice Mountain, for donating a semi- truck load of bottled water along with Kathy Carlton-Beh who organized our police, fire and DPW teams to assist in its distribution to the public.

“Ice Mountain was pleased to provide water to help the residents of New Boston impacted by the water main break. This donation kept with the company’s long history of donating water to those impacted by emergencies and disasters.” Said Arlene Anderson-Vincent, CPG natural resource manager.

Background on the incident:

A boil water alert was issued as a result of a water main break that occurred early Sunday morning on Oct. 10.

At around 6 a.m., the police dispatch alerted the on-call water employee of a number of calls regarding a lack of water pressure within the Township.

The on-call person mobilized all available employees to attempt to locate the large water main break within the Township.

The break was located at approximately 8 a.m. due to a call from a concerned citizen about an excessive amount of water in their backyard.

Due to the number of poor water pressure calls and consulting with the Township engineers, the decision was made to issue a precautionary low pressure boil water alert for the entire Township.

The DPW department enabled their emergency Response Plan which includes public notification through all the available channels such as Nixle, Facebook, news outlets, newspapers and radio stations.

Once located, the break was isolated and normal pressure restored to a majority of the Township and the repairs on the broken main began. Due to the extent of the break the repairs were not concluded until approximately 3:45 a.m. on Monday.

Once the entire township had regained their water service the DPW department had to conduct extensive flushing of the water mains surrounding the break area and then umbrella out to ensure any stagnant water was clear from the system. This process occurred on Monday.

After the flushing had concluded the Great Lakes Water Authority came in and took 11 samples from our routine sampling site all over the Township. These samples are taken back to the lab and incubated for 18-24 hours to allow for any bacteria to grow.

The first round of samples all came back negative for any bacteria. The second round of samples that are required to be taken 24 hours after the first were then taken from the same 11 locations on Wednesday. These samples must undergo the same 18–24-hour incubation period.

On Oct. 14 at approximately 10 a.m., GLWA contacted the township with the results of the second set of water tests. These tests were also negative for any bacteria. With this second test the township has satisfied all of the requirement to lift the boil water advisory effective immediately.