Florence issues update on water boil advisory

The town of Florence has an update on the precautionary water boil advisory it issued Wednesday after a water main break resulted in a system outage.

The break near Main and 22nd streets caused an outage that affected all areas south of the Gila River, including some Pinal County government offices.

On Thursday, the town posted on its Facebook page that the advisory "was put in place as a precautionary measure to ensure public health and safety. No known contaminants were introduced into the system and the likelihood (that) contaminants are present is low."

Water samples were collected and submitted to a lab on Thursday and the results are expected to be available on Friday, according to the town.

"Once we have confirmation no contaminants are present, the boil advisory will be lifted," the post continued.

The town is also informing residents that it safe to shower and do laundry as long as no water is ingested.

In addition, the town stated that residents should flush  faucets for five to 10 minutes until "the water runs clear, changes temperature, or there's no more air in the line."

While repairing the water main break, the town's public works department determined that a systemwide shut down was needed because the repair area could not be isolated.

While town crews completed repairs and water service was restored, the work caused a loss of pressure in the system that could have allowed contaminants to enter the distribution system.

“While these conditions may pose a significant health risk to those served by the system, we are taking all necessary steps to reduce and eliminate these risks and protect the health and safety of those served by the system,” the town stated on Thursday.

Residents are being advised to:

• Boil water for three minutes before using or use bottled water.
• Use boiled or bottled water for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and food preparation until further notice.
• Discard all recently stored water, drinking water or ice that came from the system.

Disease-causing organisms in the water can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches or other symptoms and may pose a health risk to infants, young children, some of the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems, the town stated.

The specific segment of the system that was repaired was disinfected before being put back into service.

On Monday, the Florence Town Council heard a presentation from the public works department explaining what a boil water advisory is, the circumstances that could initiate such an advisory and when it could be lifted.

For information, residents can contact Timm Wainscott at 520-251-2131 or at Timm.wainscott@florenceaz.gov .