GRPS closing school Tuesday amid boil water advisory

Corinne Moore
·3 min read

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Rapids Public Schools will be closed on Tuesday amid a boil water advisory due to a water main break.

A spokesperson for the district said that the district’s food and nutrition service building is in the area that is being advised to boil its water making serving lunch for nearly 14,000 students challenging.

“But this situation with the water has created quite the logistical mess for us here at GRPS. Not only for the 20+ buildings that are impacted in the zone of the boil water advisory itself but also for all of our other schools that utilize services for some of those buildings,” Leon Hendrix, spokesperson for GRPS, said.

Grand Rapids copes with boil water advisory

The school district made the announcement Monday afternoon. GRPS did not have to close on Monday because it had already scheduled an in-service day. Hendrix said that parents should be prepared for the district to close on Wednesday as well.

“We’re not ready to announce that yet, we’re hopeful they might be able to get this situation cleared up,” he said.

The Kent Intermediate School District also closed several buildings Monday, but plans to reopen most Tuesday.

“The restroom facilities will be available to us tomorrow. The restroom facilities were not available to us this morning. We had no idea when they would be available. So that made it impossible to open,” Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Koehler said.

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Water fountains will be shut off Tuesday. The district will provide some bottled water and encourage students to bring their own. Any food made in kitchens will be prepared with bottled water.

“We are advising them you cannot use the water for anything other than washing your hands and flushing the toilets,” Koehler said.

The only Kent ISD buildings expected to remain closed Tuesday are the Lincoln Development Center and Lincoln School.

BOIL WATER ADVISORY STEMMED FROM WATER MAIN BREAK

Around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, the city was notified of a loss of water pressure and discovered there had been a water main break in a remote area of Leonard Street NE and Union Avenue NE near Carrier Creek.

Grand Rapids boil water advisory to last for days, city says

Thousands of Grand Rapids Water customers in the area east of US-131 and north of Hall Street were advised by the city to boil their water until further notice.

Everyone in the affected area should boil their water for two minutes before drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, cooking and cleaning, the city advised. Flushing the toilet and showering are not a problem, Jernberg said.

Grand Rapids released a map of the areas affected.

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A map of a water advisory in Grand Rapids. (Courtesy City of Grand Rapids)
A map of a water advisory in Grand Rapids. (Courtesy City of Grand Rapids)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while under a boil water advisory, you should still boil water even if it’s filtered through a home water filter or pitcher that filters water.

A typical boil water advisory lasts three to four days but the city will notify residents when it has been lifted. In the meantime, crews work to flush the system and fix the main break. Then the water will be sampled according to state and federal requirements, the city said.

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