City issues 'boil water' advisory for residents in northeast Ann Arbor
The city of Ann Arbor has issued a "boil water" advisory for the northeast side of the city as a result of the city water system being depressurized.
As a precautionary measure, all residents in the affected northeast area are advised to boil water that they will use for drinking or cooking.
City officials said in a news release Thursday morning the water system was depressurized due to a city contractor conducting scheduled valve maintenance on the northeast side. Any time there is a loss of water system pressure, a boil water advisory is issued as a precautionary measure.
"This is a precautionary advisory only," the city's news release states. "There is no indication that there was any contamination."
A map of the area where a boil water advisory is in effect.
City of Ann Arbor
The city advises water should be boiled for at least one minute and allowed to cool in a covered container. Bottled water can be used as an alternative to boiling.
Residents might experience discolored water, which can cause stains to laundry if the discoloration is not first cleared from the lines, city officials cautioned.
"The iron sediment in the water main has been disturbed, causing the discoloration," the city's news release states. "Once residents are notified that the boil water alert has ended, it is recommended to run cold water for several minutes and flush the toilet to clear your lines."
The city advises northeast residents to continue to use boiled or bottled water for drinking purposes until further notice.
Tests of the water have begun and results are expected to be available within 24 hours. The boil water advisory will be lifted when safe results have been obtained from the tests. Residents in the affected area will be notified via the city's Code Red emergency notification system.
Residents still can use the water for showering, flushing toilets, and doing laundry, according to the city. When using the dishwasher, it's recommended to use the heated cycle. If hand-washing dishes, the city recommends using hot water as a precautionary measure.
For more information about Code Red, visit www.a2gov.org. Residents also can call the Water Treatment Plant 24/7 at 734-994-2840 with questions.
City of Ann Arbor
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
Comments
JRW
Fri, Mar 8, 2013 : 3 a.m.
How are affected residents notified? I don't live in that neighborhood, and heard about this advisory on a radio station driving in my car. In addition to radio station announcements and AA dot com, is there another way that affected residents are notified? If not, I would have to say that it's pretty unlikely that all the affected residents would happen to be listening to a radio station or seeing it on AA dot com. This is something that each affected resident should be alerted to via a phone call. I've seen phone alerts in the past for other things, so does the water department send out mass phone messages?
Ann English
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 11:42 p.m.
Hey, Windemere residents, hope you still have your nice fish-shaped mailboxes! Don't trade them in for cooked-fish-shaped mailboxes! I still remember those mailboxes 17 years after making deliveries to your area!
Sooze
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 10:13 p.m.
What about people who live at Glacier Hills?
West Park
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 6:36 p.m.
Thanks, @Grateful.... Off topic but I just drove down Huron near Jackson Rd. and can't believe that my car survive the pounding it took from huge holes.
Epengar
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 7:09 p.m.
West Huron is really awful. The city has a pothole hotline, I think it should be deluged with calls: 734-99-HOLES Or submit the locations online: http://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/customerservice/Pages/OnlineCustomerServiceRequest.aspx
GratefulReb
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 6:28 p.m.
Please fix our roads.
say it plain
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 10:17 p.m.
Yeah, my car's cd player became a "broken record" from driving over these rutted roads... sometimes I think every single comment on every single thread should be about the roads here, because so many of them represent a broken-record bad-joke the city seems to be playing...
timjbd
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 7:19 p.m.
The broken record strikes again.
FrankOZ
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 5:40 p.m.
May be a silly question, but what about pets? Should we boil their water?
mady
Fri, Mar 8, 2013 : 2:14 p.m.
Frank, it's not silly by any stretch, hey I'm an animal lover meself. me, I'd be inclined to give my kitty bottled water. Here you go, Esther!
joanne
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 9:57 p.m.
Yes. My mobile home community just had a boil water alert, and they suggested we give our pets boiled water.
tdw
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 6:13 p.m.
I'm with Craig on this one.The only way I could get my dog to drink boiled water is if I filled the toilet with it.Sometimes I think she would rather eat squirrel poop than her dog food
Craig Lounsbury
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 6:01 p.m.
I cook my dogs meats that I supplement their dog food with, but if you Google up raw diets for dogs you will get an eye opener. Lots of folks feed them raw uncooked things that we as humans shouldn't eat uncooked.
Craig Lounsbury
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 5:59 p.m.
I know some folks who will go ballistic at what I'm about to say..... There are a lot of folks out there who feed their dogs raw meat, as in uncooked. The idea is the acidic levels in their stomachs and their short intestines protect them from food born illnesses we humans suffer from. The further "proof" is that their "cousins" in the wild will bury and go back to kills over days and weeks and eat them . So some folks will say no need to boil your pets water. Let the controversy begin.
bigdrummer
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 5:55 p.m.
Yes you should. Very good question though!
annarboriscrazy
Thu, Mar 7, 2013 : 5:54 p.m.
yes, wouldn't want them drinking possibly-contaminated water either!