Damaged water main leads to boil alert

A boil-water advisory went out to 180 Cape Girardeau households after an Ameren contractor broke a Bloomfield Road water main Tuesday afternoon.

Tap water intended for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth should be boiled for at least three minutes until 6 p.m. Thursday.

Kevin Priester, Cape Girar-deau's water system manager, said the advice is a safety precaution required by the state.

"It's not like there's been any contamination, but when you lose pressure like that, it's just a good thing," he said. "I don't want to scare people. We always err on the side of caution ... I think people get frustrated because they're inconvenienced, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

He said small water main breaks are typically repaired with the water at full pressure. That couldn't happen at Bloomfield Road, where the city had to replace 20 feet of the eight-inch-wide water main.

Though "a few hundred thousand gallons" of water spilled from the site, Priester said "that only seems like a lot. It's a matter of perspective, I guess. We've had worse."

In February, a Southeast Missouri State University work crew broke a 14-inch main near Sprigg Street, causing boil-water alerts for 1,500 households.

The long Bloomfield Road main ends near the Dalhousie development and serves homes in the Stonebridge, Carpenters, White Oaks, Emerald Forest, Giboney Woods and Benton Hill subdivisions in addition to Dalhousie, he said. The break also affects Benton Hill Road and Armstrong Drive residents and Notre Dame Regional High School.

The city tests the water and has independent analyses done by a Jackson firm, Environmental Analysis South, he said. The tests look for evidence of coliform bacteria, a sign of contaminated water.

"We do check chlorine levels to make sure they're OK. If the chlorine is good, chances are the water is OK," said Priester, a former St. Louis County lab worker.

The phone number for Cape Girardeau's water division is 651-6280.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127