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Boil water advisory has EC steamed
Call system not yet functional
Source:
Cranberry Eagle
Written by:
Jared Stonesifer
Published:
August 11, 2010
EVANS CITY - A water line break in the borough last week disrupted service to residents for several hours and, despite a quick cleanup effort, officials are upset with the state Department of Environmental Protection because of a late boil water advisory.
The break happened late on Aug. 1, leaving many residents without water. The line was repaired and the borough began flushing fire hydrants about 5 a.m. Aug. 2.
However, it wasn't until about 10 a.m. that day that the DEP ordered the borough to advise residents to boil their water, a precautionary measure often enacted after such accidents.
But by that time residents had been using potentially tainted water for more than five hours, according to police Chief Joe McCombs.
The police department issued a news release, McCombs said, but it couldn't use an emergency messaging service the borough recently bought.
"The general perception by the public is that we were dragging our feet," McCombs said about the boil water advisory.
"The water line was pretty much repaired and we were flushing the hydrants by 5 a.m., but the DEP waited until almost lunch time to call us and to give the boil water advisory. By then the water had been flowing and people were consuming it for several hours."
McCombs lamented that he could not use the new Swiftreach emergency notification system.
The system sends out automated phone calls or text messages to borough residents in case of a natural disaster, large fire or water main break. The borough hasn't yet made it functional because it's still compiling contact information from residents.
While the program will notify residents quicker and more efficiently than door-knocking, McCombs said, there's still not a perfect way to spread the word in an emergency.
"It's a matter of coming back to the office, sitting at a computer and typing a message and sending it," McCombs said about the program. "But using Swiftreach doesn't mean the message is going to reach 100 percent of the residents. There's no foolproof system to go out and get every person, but the current system will certainly greatly enhance notification."
Borough council President Bill Painter also said he wished the emergency notification program had been in use during the water break because it could have quickly corrected a situation made worse by the DEP's tardiness in issuing a boil water advisory for the town.
"For the boil water advisory, we unfortunately didn't get the notice until later on, but once we got that we could have issued it immediately to everyone in town," Painter said. "It would have been helpful because it could have reached everyone in just a few minutes."
Painter said the Swiftreach program should be in use in two to three weeks.
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