WASHINGTON — DC Water has lifted the boil water advisory that was in effect for parts of Northeast D.C.
The company said tests confirm the drinking water is safe and there is no contamination in the water system.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience this caused, but we will always put our customers’ safety first during these events,” DC Water’s General Manager and CEO David Gadis said in a news release.
At a news conference Sunday morning, officials provided a detailed update on the issues surrounding the boil alert that was sent out in the early morning hours of Friday, July 13.
David Gadis, the general manager and CEO of DC Water, said that DC Water has taken feedback from the community while the advisory was in effect, and will be hosting a round-table style discussion about how to be more effective in getting important messages to the community out quickly in the future.
The District announced that all pools except Turkey Thicket will open on time on Sunday. The Turkey Thicket pool will reopen on Monday.
All spray parks will be activated on time except for Turkey Thicket and Riggs-LaSalle, which will be activated at noon, the city said in a news release.
DC Water recommends that if you were in the affected area, you should run your cold water taps for 10 minutes if you live in the affected area and did not use your water at all during the advisory.
There are no reports of anyone being sick from water, the company said.
The boil advisory was issued on Friday morning as a precautionary measure after a malfunction at a pumping station led to an unexpected drop in water pressure that could have allowed contaminants to get into the water.
The area affected by the boil advisory shrank dramatically on Friday and Saturday, but officials said tests did find coliform bacteria in water drawn from one of 13 fire hydrants tested.
That led to them extending the advisory to 7,000 customers in five neighborhoods in Northeast D.C. on Saturday.
The bacteria are unlikely to cause illness but their presence in drinking water may be indicative of other pathogens in the water system, according to reports.
At the beginning of Saturday, 35,000 customers were affected by the boil advisory in the D.C. area.
The issue that led to the boil advisory started at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, when an open valve at the Bryant Street Pumping Station, near Howard University, resulted in a loss of pressure in parts of its distribution system for about an hour, the company said in a news release.
The pumping station provides a good part of the city’s water supply, and the valve issue caused a sharp drop in water pressure — or no water service at all — across a large stretch of the city.
While the pressure was restored fairly quickly — in about 66 minutes, officials said — a loss of pressure in the pipe system means it is possible for contaminants to enter the water.
Gadis said emergency teams worked overnight on Thursday to pinpoint where the problem was and how many people were affected.
“We wanted to make sure that we contacted the right people, that we did not send an alarm to the people that were not affected,” Gadis said. “And so we … do feel like that we did the right thing and we did everything that was possible and within our power.”
The D.C. Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency issued the boil-water advisory shortly after 4:30 a.m. Friday after receiving the go-ahead from DC Water, said Rodriquez, the agency’s director.
When asked by reporters at the news conference on Friday why it took nearly eight hours from the time the valve issue was fixed to alert D.C. residents, Gadis said it took time for workers to understand and pinpoint the problem.
“It took some time for us to get there,” he said. “But we took every precautionary measure that we could.”
WTOP’s Jack Moore, and Neal Augenstein contributed to this report.
