St. Thomas residents who use water from the Water and Power Authority have been told to boil water for the next 48 hours as a safety precaution.
WAPA issued the boil-water advisory Saturday morning.
Under the advisory, the utility recommends that water be boiled rapidly for at least one minute before being consumed to eliminate any possible bacteria that may be present. During the 48 hours of this advisory, water that has not been boiled should not be used for drinking, making infant formulas and juices, cooking, making ice, washing fruits and vegetables or brushing teeth.
The utility also urged customers to discard all ice made previously, and disinfect ice cube trays.
WAA added a reminder, that If there are children in the home, adults should place the pot on the back burner to avoid spills and scalds. Boil only as much water in a pot as you can comfortably lift without spilling, the warning added.
A common cause of bacteria in water occurs when there is a loss of pressure in a water distribution system, as occured on St. Thomas over the last several weeks. While loss of pressure does not necessarily mean that water has been contaminated, it does mean that potential impurities in contact with water supply plumbing may be able to enter into the system and be carried to consumers.
The Authority’s microbiology water quality teams are in the field monitoring the system for irregularities. The public will be updated, within 48 hours, regarding WAPA’s system monitoring evaluation, the statement concluded.
Subject: Wapas leaky pipes
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Good Day Everyone
This is Paul Raymond… I have a house above town and yes we have no wapa water for the last month or so. This house was built around 1800 and has a small …about 1100 gal. cistern… we have filled it twice lately in the last few weeks so we can have water… getting a trucker to deliver 1000 gallons of water when they have trucks that will carry 3 to 5 times that and enough business to ignore a small order like that says lots about the truckers positive sensitivity. Thank you Discount Water we think you’re great.
Water was supposedly on this morning..went out to check and no its not. Maybe in town but not here on the top of this hill. Meter has moved less than two gallons since Dec. 1 when I started looking at it.
Had a conversation with an EPA contractor a little while ago and he opinioned to me that that WAPA has a problem with leaky pipes.
This is not a real revelation.. Comments by WAPA in the past have mentioned things like ground water intrusion… whenever the water pressure was low.. and recommendations to boil you “potable” water if you are actually thinking about drinking it… Well if mud can leak in water can leak out.
The contractor conversation went to an earthquake of Sep. 27, 2011… a 4.6 shake up no one seemed to notice but may have shifted some pipes that were decades past their replacement life already.. This was in November and his comment was they had a major problem with leaky pipes. My comment is they have a major problem with planning…and ignoring normal maintainace so they can declare it an emergency later…blame it on an act of God…
Well when a fifty year old pipe is not leaking …that’s a real act of God … Not replacing it before it bursts is human being stupid.
I think WAPA’s delivery system.. thier pipes .. are a part of this water problem… maybe a big part.
WAPA has resisted audits and they certainly are overdue for an audit, but they probably should reveal… THEY HAVE LEAKY PIPES… and work to fix it.. If they reveal how much of the water they send out actually gets sold… it would help figure things out. Again, they are overdue for an audit.
Sincerely P R Jan. 7, 2011
No water on Mafolie Hill yet… Saturday night….