CEDAR SPRINGS, Mich. —
Class will be in session on Friday for the Cedar Springs School district after a city-wide boil water advisory went into effect on Tuesday.
The advisory was put in place after a loss in pressure in the water supply may have allowed bacterial contamination to occur in the water system.
One day after the boil advisory went into effect, city manager Darla Falcon got an “amazing” call.
“I got the phone call [Wednesday]. You know, ‘We can deliver a semi-load of bottled water.’” she said. “I could picture this in my mind, like, ‘Oh, my God, that's a lot of bottled water.’ But very thankful.”
Bottled water company Ice Mountain, which has a production facility in Mecosta County, donated multiple pallets of bottled water to the community.
Drinking water that is not boiled or bottled during an advisory can be dangerous. Boiling water kills off bacteria and other organisms in the water that may have contaminated it during the loss of pressure.
Residents should only use boiled or bottled water until the city advises otherwise.
“It just takes time. It's not an immediate result that we know the answers,” she said. “It takes time to run this these water samples through the process once we know the results tomorrow, about the same time of the second test from today. If it's all clear, the boil water ban will be lifted.”
The water handout lasted until 6 p.m. on Thursday.
The city has to wait for two negative bacteria tests to lift the advisory.
An initial water sample analysis testing for bacteria came back negative on Thursday. This means the city still has to wait for the second bacteria test to come back negative to lift the advisory.
Falcon said the advisory could be lifted within the next 24 hours.
The city will inform all residents when the advisory is lifted.