Detroit Boil Water Advisory Catches Downtown By Surprise

DETROIT, MI — Gulp. Downtown workers went out their business and drank water, coffee and tea for much of Wednesday, unaware the area was affected by an advisory from the city Tuesday night that water may not be safe to drink. The problem was, the advisory didn’t specifically say downtown was affected in its vague boundary. Highland Park and Hamtramck are also affected.

More than two dozen schools were closed across the Motor City Thursday on the second day of the advisory, which recommended that water be boiled before consumption. The problem stemmed from a pump that malfunctioned and caused water pressure to drop.

“This boil water advisory is for the area defined by south of McNichols, East of Linwood and west of Conner,” the city said in its advisory. An updated map of the affected area made clear that it included downtown, much of Corktown, and Midtown, where a half-dozen hospitals and Wayne State University are located.

To kill bacteria and organisms in the water, the city recommended boiling it for one minute then cooled for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation “until further notice.” Water pressure has been restored, but the boil water advisory will remain in effect until noon Friday, the city said.

Some restaurants in the downtown area continued business as usual, unaware that downtown was affected by the advisory, the Detroit Free Press reported. It’s unclear exactly how many of the city’s 200,000 residential and business customers were affected, The Detroit News reported.

Detroit Public Schools had been prepared to provide bottled water to students for drinking Thursday, but “made the decision to close the 26 schools in the affected area and err on the side of caution,” the school district said in a statement.

Bedrock Detroit, one of downtown’s largest landlords, sent a memo around 11:30 a.m. telling its tenants that the city’s central business district wasn’t affected after apparently getting that information from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Later, when advised by the Free Press, one of the tenants in Bedrock’s Federal Reserve Building, that downtown was affected, the company sent out another memo:

“After receiving the boil water advisory, Bedrock took precautions. The City of Detroit has advised us to adhere to the boil water advisory. ... We apologize for any confusion from our earlier communication. Please take the published precautions set forth by the city until they are lifted.”

Anyone who consumed the water probably isn’t in any immediate danger, DWSD director Gary Brown told the Free Press.

“It’s precautionary, but at the same time we didn't want to take any chances,” Brown said. "Out of an abundance of caution we put out the alert. The water pressure is back up in every area of the city, and as soon as we get the green light from the DEQ we will revoke the boil water alert.”

Photo by Jamie via Flickr Commons