More than 3,300 in Monroe County are under boil water advisory
More than 3,300 Monroe County households and businesses are under an advisory to boil their water because of a water main break near Griffy Lake. The break also means e-learning days for two local schools.
City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU) said a drinking water main near Griffy Lake broke, affecting 1,800 CBU customers. An additional 1,538 customers from Washington Township Water also are affected. The township utility gets its water from CBU.
CBU said customers can go to the CBU website, bloomington.in.gov/utilities, for a list of affected addresses.
Affected customers should boil water until 5 p.m. Wednesday
The utility said customers should boil all water used for drinking, cooking and oral hygiene for at least five minutes before consumption. Customers do not have to boil the water for other uses.
The boil water advisory is scheduled to remain in effect until 5 p.m. Wednesday. Customers who have signed up for Monroe County Alerts will receive notice directly.
CBU advised that once normal water pressure is restored, people should run cold water from a sink or tub until clear water flows from the faucet.
Monroe County Community School Corp. said the water main break also means that Bloomington High School North and Hoosier Hills Career Center students will learn from home today.
The township utility said CBU had a main break at the old Griffy plant site that affected all five of the township’s connections and most of the north side of town. The former plant, on North Dunn Street on the lake's norther edge, supplied drinking water sourced from Griffy Lake from 1925 until 1996. It was demolished in 2020.
Large number of customers affected
The number of customers affected by this week's boil water advisory is unusually high. Most advisories affect fewer than 100 customers. CBU staff did not immediately recall an advisory that affected this many customers.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management requires public water systems to issue a boil water advisory when the water pressure drops below certain thresholds. When crews repair broken mains, the water pressure often has to be turned off.
CBU has reported an average of 74 water main breaks in the last five years. That’s up 19% from the prior five-year average.
CBU’s network includes more than 420 miles of water main pipe, seven storage tanks, seven booster stations and one water treatment plant.
“Emergency repairs to the water infrastructure are called ‘main breaks’ because the water is usually flowing from a hole or crack in the water main pipe, although sometimes it can be a leak at a joint or a broken valve,” CBU said on its website. “Unless the line is actually hit with something … it can be difficult to discern why a pipe breaks.”
The utility urged customers to call its 24-hour line at 812-339-1444 if they see anything that looks like a main break, such as water coming out of a crack in the road.
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: More than 3,300 in Bloomington area under boil water advisory
