The boil-water advisory facing thousands of Pittsburgh homes, schools and businesses will probably end sometime Thursday, although it may last a day longer, a city utility manager said Tuesday.
The timing hinges on whether water tests pass muster in the affected area, including the city’s northern neighborhoods, said Robert Weimar, interim executive director at the troubled Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. He voiced confidence that PWSA would log two consecutive days of passable test results expected by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Processing test samples takes about 24 hours. Each day’s sample should be negative for total coliform bacteria, according to the DEP.
“I think it’s fair to say we have to prove ourselves in order for the state to lift the order” that triggered the advisory late Monday, Mr. Weimar said. He delivered a public apology for the crisis, PWSA’s second large-scale boil warning this year.
Low chlorine levels spurred the first one, affecting some 100,000 residents in eastern and central city neighborhoods served by the Highland Park Reservoir. That precautionary advisory lasted about two days until the DEP ended the order amid corrective efforts.
The new warning affects a lot fewer people, including about 18,000 homes in the North Side, Millvale and Reserve. They’re served by the Lanpher Reservoir in Shaler, which holds 133 million gallons — enough to fill about 200 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Worries over potential contamination in the reservoir led the DEP to request the precautionary advisory at 4:30 p.m. Monday, department spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said. City officials brought in about 25,000 gallons of potable water for distribution at 10 sites, such as fire stations and a community center.
They also made water deliveries to PWSA customers who couldn’t boil their own water or visit a distribution site. Public schools in the affected area had bottled water on hand; none closed.
Mayor Bill Peduto’s press conference Tuesday afternoon:
In the private sector, several restaurants said they were taking measures to safeguard customers. The Tequila Cowboy Bar & Grill on North Shore Drive postponed opening for lunch while it waited for delivery of bags of ice, bottled water and canned soda, according to assistant manager Courtney Watkins.
“We can’t use our bar guns,” she said.
The restaurant was using boiled water to wash produce and planned to cut down on menu offerings, Ms. Watkins said.
“We’re just hoping it’s fixed by Saturday, because [being closed on a game day] is not acceptable to anyone,” said Amanda Turek, 30, a bartender at The Foundry on North Shore Drive.
Foundry owner Andrew Stackiewicz, 33, delayed opening for four hours while kitchen staff boiled and cooled water, searched for bagged ice and installed precautionary restraints so no one used the soda guns out of habit. The health department has tips for restaurants dealing with the advisory at www.achd.net.
At nearby Allegheny General Hospital, patients and workers were using bottled water for consumption and food preparation.
The hospital also encouraged people to use hand sanitizer after washing their hands, “to add another layer of protection,” said Dan Laurent, a spokesman for corporate parent Allegheny Health Network.
“This is a situation that we’re going to face time and time again,” said Mayor Bill Peduto, whose administration is looking at a potential overhaul of PWSA and several billion dollars in long-term improvements. “We have an antiquated system that in certain areas is beyond the failure point.”
The discovery of the latest problem stems from water test results last week. On Aug. 23, routine checks showed positive bacteriological samples within the Lanpher service area, according to DEP. Such “incidental positive” results can crop up on occasion, then disappear in follow-up testing, Mr. Weimar said.
That was the case over the weekend, when additional tests spotted no contamination, he said. Specifically, Mr. Weimar said earlier results indicated evidence of total coliform — a group of related bacteria that are generally not dangerous but indicate other pathogens, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The situation did not constitute a violation, the DEP said.
Still, the agency asked the Allegheny County Health Department to look into conditions at the Lanpher Reservoir. Mr. Weimar said expert findings on Monday identified likely tears in the reservoir’s surface covering.
The discovery spurred a violation notice from DEP and the boil advisory, urging customers who use water for drinking to flush their lines by running the tap for at least a minute. Then they’re supposed to boil it vigorously for another minute to kill bacteria.
“DEP’s investigation is ongoing as to whether, when and how PWSA met its obligations,” Ms. Fraley said in a statement.
Possible openings in the reservoir covering could introduce contaminants from roosting birds, although there’s no proof of contamination, Mr. Weimar said. PWSA has taken the reservoir offline for cover and liner work that should take about nine months and cost some $9 million.
Authority leaders had planned to undertake the overhaul next year, so it’s already in a capital budget plan, according to PWSA. In the short term, the authority has flushed lines and is routing water directly to the Lanpher service area through large mains, bypassing the reservoir. It’s more than a century old.
Mr. Weimar said he wasn’t certain when the reservoir covering was last inspected, and it wasn’t clear how long the leak-prone condition has existed. The covering is supposed to be checked monthly — a practice that PWSA is toughening, he said.
Authority board members retained him in June as interim executive director. No evidence suggested any uptick in local illness that could be tied to water contamination, said Wendell Hissrich, the city public safety director.
“We’re pretty confident that the system is stable, that we can demonstrate that [fact] to the DEP, that water quality meets all the standards,” Mr. Weimar said.
Adam Smeltz: 412-263-2625, asmeltz@post-gazette.com, @asmeltz. Staff writers Patricia Sabatini and Donald Gilliland contributed.
Where to find clean water
The City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority will provide potable water resources during the current precautionary flush and boil advisory issued to PWSA customers northern neighborhoods of the City of Pittsburgh, the Borough of Millvale and Reserve Township. Ten facilities throughout the affected boil water area will serve as water distribution centers:
First Published: August 29, 2017, 4:32 p.m.
Updated: August 29, 2017, 10:51 p.m.
