Lewiston residents put under order to boil water

A ruptured reservoir exposed water to the elements, which prompted officials to call for more than 24,000 Lewiston residents to boil their drinking water.

The city of Lewiston issued the alert Wednesday morning for all of its customers following a reservoir failure in a portion of the city’s water system in the Sunset Addition.

Lewiston Mayor Dan Johnson said the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality will decide when to lift the boil order once the city meets requirements of the agency.

Out of “an abundance of caution,” the water boiling order is for all city of Lewiston customers, according to a news release from the city. The order is not for Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District customers.

Any water that is consumed through drinking, cooking and brushing teeth should be boiled. Water used for bathing doesn’t need to be treated.

The city is also requesting that customers practice conserving water as much as possible.

The city provided these guidelines for boiling water to make it safe:

If the water from your tap is clear, boil it for three minutes to disinfect. This kills disease-causing bacteria and parasites. Instead of boiling, you may add one-eighth of a teaspoon of household bleach per gallon of water and let it sit for half an hour.

If the water is cloudy, filter it by pouring it through a coffee filter and then boil for three minutes.

If you cannot boil the water, filter it through a coffee filter and add one-fourth of a teaspoon of household bleach per gallon of water. Let it sit for one hour.

Another option is bottled water. Make sure bottles come in tightly sealed containers. Water bottles less than 6 months old are best.

The boil water alert order will remain in effect until officials issue a safe to drink order.

An updated news release Wednesday night also mentioned that a water filling station has been established at the Lewiston Community Center, 1424 Main St., for Lewiston water customers in need of clean drinking water. It will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. Those seeking water must bring their own containers.

Johnson said the reason for the boil order is to make sure the water that’s left in the reservoir hasn’t been contaminated by being exposed to the environment. The reservoir has a roof on it, which acts like a lid, and pipes come in underground to feed the system, keeping the water closed in. With the rupture, it no longer has that protection.

“Instead of having a lid on the jar, there is now not a lid on the jar,” he said. “We can’t guard against any potential contaminant, whether it’s animals or airborne things or whatever.”

Those who live in the Orchards and get their drinking water from the Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District don’t need to take any precautions, according to Barney Metz, LOID manager. Carol Maurer, public information officer for the city of Lewiston, said the boil water order is in place for residents who pay a city of Lewiston water bill. Those who pay a LOID water bill don’t need to take any precautions.

Metz said LOID stands ready to assist the city with equipment and additional water. He added that LOID’s water supply is at full capacity, so no restrictions are in place.

The Lewiston School District closed three of its elementary schools — McSorley, Webster and Whitman — Wednesday as a result of the reservoir failure.

However, all schools will be open today. Lance Hansen, superintendent of the Lewiston School District, said that schools were closed Wednesday because they needed time to get resources in place to keep schools open. Now that the school district can provide potable water, schools will be ready for students.

Hansen said that when the announcement to boil water was put in place, the high school was already in session, so water was provided to the school, as well as at Jenifer Middle School. It was also finals week and he didn’t want to disrupt the students’ learning.

Hansen also didn’t want to take away resources from families by purchasing large amounts of bottled water for the schools. The district purchased some water dispensers and created a water delivery system by bringing water downtown from schools in the Orchards on a rotating cycle.

Hansen credited the staff for jumping in to provide support for students and come up with solutions, as well as patience from families who had to pick up students.

St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston announced on its Facebook page that it has “taken every action to prevent anyone from accidentally ingesting potentially contaminated water.”

The hospital has established an incident command, communicated temporary hand-cleaning protocols and acquired safe drinking water for patients, according to the Facebook post.

Also, the public is asked to enter the hospital through the north entrance only, according to Samantha Skinner, marketing and communications director.

Interlink, a nonprofit organization that serves elderly and disabled people, checked in with clients who live in the area as none of them have internet or use digital resources to notify them about the boil order and delivered bottled water to those who couldn’t get to the store. In an email to the Tribune, the organization said that 50% of its clients hadn’t heard of the disaster.

Anthony Shell, assistant store director for Lewiston’ Albertsons, said the grocery store was “bombarded” with people getting water, starting at 7 a.m. He said bottled water was moved from the shelves to the front of the store and a special order was placed for more water from Spokane.

Other stores such as Grocery Outlet, Costco, Liberty Mart, Walmart and URM also displayed water in the front of their stores. A few restaurants were closed because of the boil order, like Seasons and Jollymore’s, but others were able to keep operations going.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.