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Boiling point

Sunday the earliest boil water advisory could be lifted

Times Observer photo by Andrew Morrison Pennsylvania American Water will be providing water in tankers stationed at 10 Willey Street, pictured here, and Betts Park — and two others — until the Boil Water Advisory is lifted. While containers are located at these sites, customers are encouraged to bring their own additional water receptacles.

Sunday is the earliest that the Pennsylvania American Water boil water advisory could be lifted.

The company is going through the state required steps to lift the advisory.

Sunday is the earliest that all the testing can be completed, according to External Affairs Manager Gary Lobaugh. The company will have potable water available in trucks at four locations — Whirley DrinkWorks parking lot on Fourth Avenue, Warren Manor on Pleasant Drive, Betts Park at Route 6 and Ludlow Street, and the Pennsylvania American Water office parking lot on Willey Street — until the boil order is lifted. Containers are available, but customers are encouraged to bring their own.

Only Pennsylvania American Water customers are impacted by the boil order.

“The boil only applies to Pennsylvania American Water’s customers who live in the City of Warren and portions of Conewango, Mead, Glade, and Pleasant Townships,” Lobaugh said.

There is no known problem with any other water. Those who are served by other water authorities or private wells are not affected.

On Wednesday, a power outage resulted in the company losing positive pressure in its system.

The boil order is precautionary, it is possible that contaminants entered the system, but there is no evidence of contamination so far, Lobaugh said.

“It’s important to note that our Warren service area is under a precautionary boil water advisory, which is issued when the water system experiences a loss in positive water pressure, typically due to a serious main break or low storage tank levels,” Lobaugh said. “This is the most common type of advisory, which is issued as a precaution until water samples are collected and analyzed to confirm that water quality has not been affected.”

“A loss of positive water pressure indicates the existence of conditions that could allow contamination to enter the distribution system,” he said. “Our Warren area customers were placed under a precautionary advisory because of the power outage, which prevented the plant from replenishing our system and resulted in low storage tank and pressure levels.”

The shutdown at the plant caused by the power outage did prevent untreated water from leaving the plant, Lobaugh said.

Following the outage and loss of pressure, Pennsylvania American is required to collect two sets of clean samples before lifting the advisory.

“The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has permitted Pennsylvania American Water to take its first round of sampling today,” Lobaugh said Friday. “DEP required Pennsylvania American Water to operate the plant uninterrupted for more than 24 hours after the electrical event prior to sampling.”

The results of the first round of testing will not be available until Saturday afternoon.

“Pennsylvania American Water is required to collect two rounds of negative sampling prior to lifting the boil water advisory, which would mean lifting the advisory on Sunday if all goes according to plan,” he said. “Customers interested in learning more about boil water advisories can visit our website: https://amwater.com/paaw/water-quality/what-is-a-boil-water-advisory.”

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