The Precautionary Boil Water Notice was due to unplanned emergency maintenance at the Water Plant. When that happens a Precautionary Boil Water notice is required by Ohio EPA. There are upwards to 20,000 boil alerts in the United States each year. No one can remember the last time Lancaster had a system wide alert.
We anticipate that the system will be back in service later today, hopefully no later than early this evening. Our maintenance and required testing have been completed. However, Ohio EPA requires independent testing. These tests have a waiting period built into the process to verify water quality.
The Boil Notice was released Saturday around 5:00 pm. It was released via TV, radio, print and social media. It was posted on the city website and other community websites. We anticipated word of mouth being a helpful part of the notification process. Like in any emergency advance notice is impossible.
We do have a system that allows individuals to sign up for notifications (alerts) anytime the city puts ANY notification out. Details on the notification option are available of the city website at: www.ci.lancaster.oh.us