First test results encouraging; boil advisory continues
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — No harmful organisms have been found in initial water samples, the city says, but much of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Township remain under a boil water advisory.
On Tuesday afternoon, the city of Grand Rapids announced the first round of testing had come back negative for dangerous bacteria. Initial samples were collected Monday morning, according to Wayne Jernberg, water system manager for the city of Grand Rapids.
“This is a positive sign,” city leaders wrote.
The boil water advisory, however, has not been lifted: The city says two rounds of testing must be done over 48 hours to comply with state and federal requirements. The water system has been flushed, and the city is conducting the second round of testing to confirm the water’s safety.
Testing will not be complete by Tuesday, leaders say.
“We hope to have to the boil advisory notice lifted on Wednesday as the (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) requires two consecutive tests showing the water is safe for consumption,” City Manager Mark Washington wrote in a preliminary report.
GRPS TO REOPEN WEDNESDAY
After initial water tests came back clean, Grand Rapids Public Schools is set to resume classes Wednesday.
“Safety’s always our top priority. We know there are risks either way when we have situations like this. But we know that having our scholars have to stay home also presents its own challenges for many of our families,” GRPS spokesman Leon Hendrix said. “So we took a close look at this and made the decision that if we could open school, we would, and with the promising signs coming from the city early on, we decided to go ahead and open school.”
The district says bottled water and hand sanitizer will be available at schools in the affected area, and drinking fountains will be off-limits. Any water used to prepare meals will be boiled beforehand.
GRPS says the community helped it get the resources it needed to open.
“We just got a huge donation of thousands of bottles of water — 6,000 bottles of water. Meijer called us this morning and said, ‘We want to bring water to help you guys and the school system deal with this situation.’ And within hours, there was a giant Meijer semi outside of our building, unloading that water inside,” Hendrix said. “That’s what West Michigan does when we have to get through something together.”
The facilities and operations team has started flushing water systems at GRPS properties that are under advisory, according to the district.
GRPS closed Tuesday because of the boil water advisory. Hendrix previously said more than 20 GRPS buildings are in the area that is being advised to boil water, including the district’s food and nutrition service building.
While most Kent Intermediate School District facilities will be open Wednesday, the district says Lincoln School and Lincoln Developmental Center will be closed. The two locations were closed Tuesday, too.
WATER MAIN BREAK PROMPTS ADVISORY
The advisory was issued Sunday and was prompted by a water main break in the area of Leonard Street NE and Union Avenue near Carrier Creek, which caused a drop in system pressure. Drops in pressure can allow bacteria to enter a water system, but boiling the water kills harmful bacteria. Water customers east of US-131 and north of Hall Street should boil their water for two minutes before drinking, making ice, brushing their teeth, washing dishes, cooking and cleaning. Flushing the toilet and showering are OK.
Early signs of pressure loss started around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Washington’s report. Around 1:20 p.m., pumps at Livingston Pump Station began shutting down. Operators couldn’t start the pumps remotely because of the low pressure, and the pressure dropped at multiple other stations, according to the report.
Read the full preliminary report from the city manager
“After the main broke, what triggered the larger area to be impacted was the system responded in shutting off other pumps outside of that localized area,” Washington said Tuesday.
Jernberg explained that the 12-inch main that failed connected “two critical transmission mains that supply the northeast side.”
“When that 12-inch main went, it caused an inability for us to get water to our elevated storage facilities and other pumps locations downstream,” Jernberg said. “The pumps therefore started to fall offline because … they weren’t pumping against enough head.”
Washington says he will ask staff members to review the situation, including maintenance history and the reliability of the infrastructure.
“Was it just an old, eroding main? That’s part of the problem. Yes. That’s part of the problem that we are running into there, and there’s some older infrastructure in the city,” Jernberg said. “…Really, the system acted the way it should from having further impacts on million-dollar pumps.”
The 12-inch main was completely fixed by 1 p.m. Monday and all pumping operations are back to normal, Washington’s report says, but the boil water advisory remains in place.
Water main fixed; boil advisory continues during testing
“We’re just hoping that people understand that this is a long process,” Grand Rapids City Commissioner Lisa Knight said. “And we want to make sure that people are safe, so they need to be boiling their water. If you’re going to use any water at home, please, please, please boil your water and be safe.”
WATER DISTRIBUTION
SpartanNash, in partnership with the city of Grand Rapids, was handing out packs of bottled water Tuesday to affected residents at 1635 Leonard St. NE, between Ball and Plymouth avenues.
On Monday, homeowner Roger Pickard and his partner had to find bottled water elsewhere because of how long the line was — a stark contrast to Tuesday.
“I turned back around, came back over here and then we sat over by Lake Michigan Credit Union. It’s like, ‘I’m not going to do this for a $4 pack of water,’” he said. “Today, I bet I haven’t even been here five minutes.”
Distribution is set to run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday while supplies last. The city says each vehicle can pick up one case of water.
Homeowner Susan Hoffman-Losinger was able to get a case for her and her husband, but she didn’t stop there.
“I realized that I have two neighbors that don’t drive… I’m here this morning for one of them,” she said. “Then, if the other one didn’t get any water, I’ll send my husband later to come and get some.”
According to Allison Farole, emergency management administrator for the city of Grand Rapids, two trained Community Emergency Response Team volunteers were able to help distribute water on Monday.
“This is a perfect example of why having CERT volunteers is really a necessity to our community,” she said.
Water bottle distribution is set to continue Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at a new location: the Huff Park baseball field parking lot, located at 2399 Ball Ave. NE near Aberdeen Street NE.
—News 8’s David Horak, Meghan Bunchman and Demetrios Sanders contributed to this report.
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