We would like to thank all of you who have done your part to conserve water during this difficult time and want to continue to encourage you to do so through this weekend. Maintaining an adequate water supply has been a challenge to say the least. Earlier this week we had multiple problems causing delays in water production such as frozen sensors and loss of power to all of the wells that supply the plant. Even though these problems have been remedied we are not out of the woods yet. As temperatures begin to rise, frozen pipes will begin to thaw and any that were damaged during the freeze will begin to leak putting additional strain on maintaining an adequate water supply. This coupled with an already increased water demand is why conservation will be critical through the weekend (current demand is almost double from what we use during the hottest days of summer or 3x from what we were using earlier this month).
The problems that occurred yesterday that resulted in the boil water notice have been fixed. However, the boil water notice will remain in effect at least through the middle of next week. In order to rescind the notice we have to collect several samples from around town to check for the presence of any microbial contaminants. Once we receive word that the samples are negative we will rescind the notice. Unfortunately the lab that processes these samples has been closed due to the weather making Monday the earliest we can collect them. To ensure that your water is safe for human consumption the water should be brought to a vigorous rolling boil for two minutes and then cooled prior to use.