From: Florida Today
PALM BAY, Florida – Boil-water alerts like the one that affected about 7,000 Palm Bay households over the weekend are becoming more common, as a result of stricter guidelines the city implemented.
Jessica Roeder, a utilities assistant with Palm Bay Utilities, collects water that will be taken to the lab to test for safety for human consumption. (Michael R. Brown, FLORIDA TODAY)
Palm Bay’s water system issued 37 alerts during 2008 and the first six weeks of 2009. That’s up from five in 2007. The alerts went out for everything from scheduled maintenance on pipes and low pressure in the system to water main breaks like the one that occurred Saturday in Palm Bay.
“We have improved our standard operating procedures to focus strongly on environmental health and safety,” Palm Bay Utilities Outreach Coordinator Julie Lemons said. “Before, we might have done it for a huge water main break. Now, we do it for everything.”
The latest alert was lifted Monday for all but four properties.
John and Linda Mongioi heard from a neighbor on Saturday night that there was a boil-water alert in their northeast Palm Bay neighborhood after a water main broke in a construction accident along the Turkey Creek bridge.
“It was just precautionary,” said John Mongioi, who has lived in his Vance Circle home since 1973.
Mongioi said he was not concerned that he had consumed water before he heard about the notice.
“I knew it would be pretty clean. But some of my neighbors were worried,” he said.
City officials issue the alerts to keep people from drinking water that possibly could be contaminated with anything from dirt to E. coli bacteria. The alerts could affect anywhere from a few households to thousands.
In the latest alert, testing in Palm Bay over the weekend found the water safe to drink.
“We took 19 samples Saturday and Sunday,” Palm Bay laboratory technician Bobbie Klasek said. “We didn’t have any positives. They were all negative.”
The boil-water notice was lifted Monday morning, except for 3415, 3429, 3443, 3450 Gran Ave. N.E., where the alert may continue until Wednesday, pending additional testing.
Palm Bay’s water system isn’t the only one in Brevard issuing alerts. Cocoa issued 80 in 2008, Melbourne 28 in 2008 and early 2009, and Titusville one in 2008.
“Pretty much, you like to be a utility people can depend on,” Cocoa Utilities Director Carl Larabee said.
He said almost all of the alerts issued by Cocoa Utilities affected a relatively small number of people.
“For something like Palm Bay,” affecting thousands of households, “we haven’t had anything like that in years,” Larabee said.
