Blaine's 24-Hour Boil Water Alert Ends
BLAINE, Minn. (WCCO) -- A 24-hour "boil water alert" ended Monday afternoon in a north Twin Cities suburb.
Families in Blaine awoke Sunday morning to find their faucets running dry. The city went without water for two hours.
Water was eventually restored to the city due to what officials called a computer glitch. But city officials advised that once it returned, it should be boiled for up to 24 hours to be safe.
A half dozen schools in Blaine were closed Monday for precautionary measures while the city's water was tested. The results of the test performed by the Minnesota Department of Health indicated that there were no safety or contamination issues.
Robert Therres, the public services manager with the City of Blaine, said a glitch in the computer communication system was the cause for the water outage.
"Basically people were not receiving water because there was no water to receive. Our towers were empty, so we needed to build those up and recharge the system," said Blaine Public Services Manager Robert Therres.
Officials with Anoka County Community Health and Environmental Services requested that all food service establishments impacted close down until a safe water supply can be restored.
There are just under 200 businesses in Blaine. Businesses in certain areas of Blaine use Coon Rapids' water supply and are not affected. But many had to shut down until city officials had the results from the MDH.
Officials say the alert was essential because they did not want to take any chances. Bacteria can get into the system anytime there is low water pressure.
