Water Service Restored to Most, But Repairs Remain

Water service has been restored to most customers who were cut off after construction workers broke a 34-inch water main behind the old Minsi Trail Inn on Stefko Boulevard on Tuesday, city officials said.

While many city water customers saw dirty water coming out of their taps, showers and toilets, only 2,200 of the city’s 35,000 customers were placed under a boil-water advisory, and all of them should have been informed directly by telephone, Mayor John Callahan said during a news conference this afternoon.

The only customers that received the advisory are those that lost service or had a severe drop in water pressure during the last day.

The mayor emphasized that the advisory is only precautionary. No water testing has indicated any harmful microbes have seeped into the water supply as a result of the break.

The city aims to have the advisory lifted by Friday morning. The state Department of Environmental Protection is requiring two negative tests for coliform bacteria over a 48-hour period before allowing the city to lift the advisory.

A notice on the Bethlehem Area School District’s website says schools should run “as usual” on Thursday, but that district officials would continue to monitor the situation overnight.

and , Freemansburg and elementary schools all were closed today.

The district's notice said cafeterias will offer “basic breakfast and lunch options on Thursday.” That means peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit and a vegetable. The notice says the schools are stocked with bottled water.

“However, parents may consider packing lunch and bottled water for their children,” the notice says.

The only water customers who may still have service problems are in the higher elevations in Freemansburg, Callahan said. City crews are still working to get that service restored.

Many city water customers may have seen or still be seeing brown or cloudy water, but unless you live in the city’s Northeast, have had a disruption of service or very low water pressure and have received a call informing you of the boil-water advisory, it is safe to drink, Callahan said.

“You may not want to drink it,” the mayor acknowledged. “It’s a personal choice. But it’s safe to drink.”

The city issued a list of about water service in the wake of the break. Callahan said one of the reasons he wanted to hold a news conference was to dispel any misinformation about the safety of the city’s water. Some published reports early on indicated that the entire city was under a boil-water advisory.

The city’s Health Bureau set up a conference room with 10 extra telephone lines to answer questions and concerns, said Judy Maloney, the bureau’s director.

Staff also made special telephone calls to food preparing establishments in the affected area to help them to take the proper precautions, Maloney said.

David Brong, the city’s director of water resources, said he does not believe there is a high likelihood that the break caused the system to suck in groundwater with potentially harmful fecal bacteria, but the precautions are still necessary.

The pipe that was broken is a high-volume transmission line, which primarily carries water under the Lehigh River to a 5-million gallon water tank on William Street in South Bethlehem. The tank supplies water to customers in the Southside and parts of Lower Saucon Township.

As a result of the break, the tank lost about three-quarters of its capacity, or more than 3.5 million gallons of water. Southside residents never lost service, though the city did ask restaurants to close after 9 p.m. Tuesday night to reduce system draw and maintain the supply in that area, Callahan said.

To keep service from being disrupted, city employees had to reroute the flow of water around the break, by closing some valves and opening others, Brong said.

It is sedimentation from inside some of these less heavily used water mains that is causing much of the water turbidity that many customers across the city have complained about. To combat this, crews have opened up hydrants in different parts of the city to clean out the system. In your home, Brong recommended running cold water until it clears.

The affected main is at least 23 feet under ground, which forced the city to bring in excavating crews just to locate the break. Actual repairs may take days, Brong said.

The break occurred at about 8 a.m. Tuesday when geotechnical crew taking core borings for a possible construction project hit the water main.

The locations of utility lines were marked in advance of the work and at this point it is unclear why the water main was hit, Callahan said.

“At some point, we want to be able to determine fault and causality, but that’s not our focus at this time,” he said.