City water boil order lifted after more than two days

Saturday, September 19, 2015

The boil order for the Greencastle water was lifted at mid-afternoon Sunday after more than 50 hours.

Mayor Sue Murray issued the following statement in announcing the lifting of the ban just after 3 p.m. Sunday:

"I have just received word that the state-certified lab found no deficiencies in the samples collected yesterday from the Greencastle water system," she said as the boil order logged its 51st hour.

The boil order had been in effect since about noon Friday, affecting not only Greencastle but the Town of Fillmore as well as the North 43, South 43 and Big Walnut, the rural corporations to which it supplies water.

With it being Family Weekend at DePauw University and the Taste of Putnam County even on Saturday, the inconvenience on local restaurants was intensified as some businesses served canned soda and bottled water or altered their drink menus to avoid the tap water issue and the labor-intensive nature of boiling the water.

McDonald's, for example, brought brewed iced tea up from its Cloverdale store to serve at Taste of Putnam County.

"I understand the inconveniences and impact that this boil order has had on our community," the mayor added in her statement Sunday, "and for that we are all truly sorry. Public safety has to be and always is our most important obligation."

There has been some confusion over whether the boil order was planned, City Council President Adam Cohen stated in response to an online Banner Graphic forum.

"It was not," he assured. "The work was planned but not the boil order. That was an unexpected and unplanned outcome of the work."

In defense of that, although the city water plant additions and expansion were discussed briefly by the Board of Works last Thursday, no mention of any boil order was ever made by any city official or Lori Young, the city's consulting engineer on the project from Curry and Associates, Danville.

"It's a precautionary thing," the mayor advised in announcing the boil order just after noon on Friday. "We don't want to take any chances."

With the city in the midst of a water expansion effort and its new water tank is expected to be in service this week, the disinfecting process was under way on Friday. The process of changing over the system, however, necessitated the precautionary step that ensued.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management requires two negative bacteria test results from a certified state lab before lifting the ban. Greencastle passed first of those Saturday afternoon and got a second clean bill of health Sunday to result in the lifting of the ban.

Meanwhile, Dale Pierce of the Big Walnut Water Corp. reported that Big Walnut had its two samples tested and returned with a clean bill of health as well.

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    we appreciated the water alert by phone, but could only understand the last two words because the recording was spoken so quickly. Happy DePauw's radio station repeated the warning.

    -- Posted by kvickykrider on Fri, Sep 18, 2015, at 3:14 PM
  • Is it OK to wash hands and wash clothes without boiling first?

    -- Posted by missp on Fri, Sep 18, 2015, at 5:49 PM
  • -- Posted by Rockypenguin on Fri, Sep 18, 2015, at 9:41 PM
  • Why were we not alerted prior to Friday so that everyone could be prepared. Someone should have known this in advance.

    -- Posted by hayes.cat65 on Sat, Sep 19, 2015, at 12:50 AM
  • phone notification works but I was unable

    to understand any of it...voice was terrible...

    -- Posted by MAURICE MICHEL on Sat, Sep 19, 2015, at 10:21 AM
  • An advanced warning would have been very appropriate, but we take it that the mayor and the water department didn't know this was scheduled to happen until the last minute?

    -- Posted by Prince of Stardust Hills on Sat, Sep 19, 2015, at 12:24 PM
  • How do you get to be notified by phone? We didn't get a call. We didn't know about it until 6:00 this evening. We don't listen to the radio. Must be a better way.

    -- Posted by ggtipton1940 on Sat, Sep 19, 2015, at 6:07 PM
  • We have now been under the no boil order for 30 hrs. How long does it take before we know the results of the first water test? Makes me think we failed it. It would be nice to hear something from a city official with some kind of timetable. We did not get a phone call either.

    -- Posted by 3m50 on Sat, Sep 19, 2015, at 7:22 PM
  • The first results came back safe, but the Mayor made the decision to keep the boil order in place until the results of the second test are known. We expect those results tomorrow afternoon. We are incredibly sorry for the inconvenience caused to all city residents.

    Tyler Wade

    City Council, 4th Ward

    765.247.9531

    -- Posted by tjwade12 on Sat, Sep 19, 2015, at 8:46 PM
  • I still think we should have been notified before Friday about this. Just so happened I received a text on my cell phone. Today I found out there were people not notified. I only knew because I signed up for 911 alerts on my cell phone. Word of mouth doesn't get to everyone! Just saying....

    -- Posted by hayes.cat65 on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 12:41 AM
  • I agree. This had to have been a planned event. Advanced notice would had lessened the inconvenience greatly. The communication on this has been poor at best. Will we ever get an explanation as to why there was no advance notice?

    -- Posted by 3m50 on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 8:38 AM
  • This had a big effect on business owners who had almost no advance warning. I saw a McDonald's employee buying dozens of cases of soft drinks at WalMart just to be able to serve their customers.

    -- Posted by Ben Dover on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 8:53 AM
  • This HAD to be known prior to Friday. A warning to everyone earlier should have been issued earlier in the week. Instead it has caused havoc with local businesses. McDonald's handing out warm canned drinks, think of nursing homes and the jail. They have hundreds of people to take care of and give drinks to.

    This wasn't a broken pipe, this was a planned event To drop it on an entire city Friday morning was poor planning and completely unacceptable.

    -- Posted by Mercidos on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 10:50 AM
  • Totally agree with Mercidos!

    -- Posted by becky.bond007 on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 12:13 PM
  • The silence from City Hall is deafening!

    -- Posted by 3m50 on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 2:50 PM
  • No explanation?

    -- Posted by 3m50 on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 3:49 PM
  • This is Adam Cohen the First Ward city councilman. I wanted to clarify a few things that have been posted on this forum

    There is some confusion over whether this was planned. It was NOT. The work was planned but NOT the boil order. That was an unexpected and unplanned outcome of work. More details will come out at the board of works and council meetings. I am not an engineer and will not try to explain what I do not fully understand. But no the boil order was not planned. I truly believe no one at city hall or any of the candidates on all sides would ever issue this type of order unless it was needed. If it was planned they would have announced weeks ahead of time.

    But if there is ever any concern you shut it down. I think of it as a plane having a warning light go off. There is probably no problem but you land. Once the boil order is issued you flush the system and test the water. State or Federal law (I do not know which) says you have to pass two tests before you can open again.

    What I believe caused some confusion was there is a provision that gives the city the power to open after one test. But the city assumes all responsibility.

    The mayor made the decision not to lift the order until after the second test, and I support the decision 100 percent. I will not go into all the reasons I believe that is the correct decision but using my plane comparison I want the pilot to land and double check. The second test came back clean and the order was lifted.

    I know it was hard on people and businesses. But I would also thank our businesses. Not one business that I was aware of raised prices or attempted in any way to profit off of this. Many places had specials on water and they continued to sell them at a reduced price.

    If you have questions please contact me

    Cohenadam79 @ Yahoo.com

    765 721 3168

    As to how to get the emergency call. I promise to get a letter to the editor or work with the paper to do an article on this. I do not want to respond and make a mistake this type of notification is important not only for this but for all local emergencies. So let's make sure the instructions are clear.

    -- Posted by Adam Cohen on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 4:50 PM
  • The explanation given by the mayor on Friday did not indicate that any unexpected problems had occurred. Therefore, to not have anticipated a boil order or the possibility of a boil order shows incompetence by someone. This is especially true considering it was a busy weekend for visitors to our city as it was family weekend at DePauw. What kind of impression have we given of our city? The local businesses suffered greatly on what should have been one of their busiest weekends. The work should have never been scheduled for this weekend.

    Mr. Cohen, to use your weak airplane analogy, the plane was flown by an unlicensed pilot. It never should have taken off in the first place.

    -- Posted by 3m50 on Sun, Sep 20, 2015, at 6:02 PM
  • Thank You !

    -- Posted by cycloneblue on Mon, Sep 21, 2015, at 1:14 PM
  • The entire DePauw University Campus received email notifications within minutes of the boil order going out on Friday. Also, it was all over Facebook. Beyond that, I suggest everyone sign up for emergency phone alerts.

    -- Posted by Violet23 on Mon, Sep 21, 2015, at 3:49 PM
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