Culver’s Boil Water Advisory Lifted Tuesday

After nearly five days, the town of Culver lifted its boil water advisory that had been issued in the wake of a water main leak.

Town Manager David Schoeff explained last week that an old water valve had been uncovered by contractors working downtown, which caused some serious problems. The valve, due to its age, was not restrained in accordance with today’s standards and as a result, the valve began to pull away from the main and started to leak. Fortunately, Schoeff said work quickly began to fix the leak, but the water system had to be shut down. As a result, a boil water advisory was put into effect.

The boil advisory was lifted at 12:02 p.m. Tuesday. The town was required to take daily water samples, and until the water met all drinking standards for two consecutive days, the advisory would remain in place. However, Schoeff said yesterday that the advisory has now been lifted after their water twice tested clear.

“We were able to follow state and federal regulations and get our samples tested, and once the lab cleared our samples, then we were allowed to lift the advisory, so about noon today, we got word that the samples came back OK and we were able to lift the advisory so that people could consume the water again,” said Schoeff.

While this particular issue has been taken care of, Schoeff said it’s not impossible that this issue, or a similar issue, could rise again. He said that it’s no secret that the infrastructures in place in the United States are aged and problematic, and so any time the ground is opened up, any number of issues could spring up.

“We live and we learn, unfortunately sometimes the price is high when we learn. This community went several days here without being able to consume the water without boiling, and that’s a major inconvenience,” said Schoeff.

However, Schoeff said that despite that inconvenience, the town is still much better off than the East Coast residents who were rocked by Hurricane Sandy. A bit of inconvenience, he said, is nothing in comparison to that devastation.

If you have any questions concerning this issue, please contact Culver Town Hall at (574) 842-3140.