Boil-water advisory lifted for 100,000 Pennsylvania American customers

With its cloudy water problems behind it, Pennsylvania American Water on Wednesday lifted the boil advisory for about 100,000 customers in 55 municipalities in Washington and Allegheny counties.

The privately owned utility announced about noon that the advisory had been lifted, shortly after getting results from a second round of state-required tests that showed turbidity levels were meeting federal standards at the company’s Aldrich Purification Plant on the Monongahela River in Union Township, Washington County.

A utility news release said, “Acceptable test results were obtained from samples collected on November 6 and 7, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has authorized lifting of the advisory.”

The boil advisory had been in place since Monday, when the water company said a malfunctioning

filter at the Aldrich facility caused turbidity, or cloudiness in the water, that was more than twice the federal standard.

Pennsylvania-American said the filter was repaired and contaminated water was flushed from the entire purification facility Monday. The state required the company to pass two turbidity tests done 24 hours apart before it could lift the boil water advisory.

According to a DEP field order issued to Pennsylvania American on Monday, a public water utility could be assessed a civil penalty of $5,000 per day for providing water in excess of the turbidity standard.

Lauren Fraley, a DEP spokeswoman, said in an email, “We will continue to gather information on what happened to determine if additional action is necessary.”

Turbidity does not make water unsafe to drink, but it may interfere with disinfection and allow for growth of viruses, bacteria and parasites. Those “bugs” can cause a variety of health problems, including nausea, cramps, diarrhea and headaches, especially affecting people with compromised immune systems,the elderly and infants.

Pennsylvania-American said none of the test results showed contamination from any of the disease-causing organisms.

The company has two water intakes on the Monongahela River — Becks Run, located in Baldwin Borough, and the Aldrich intake, about 21 miles south of Becks Run in Union, Washington County. Only customers supplied with water from the Aldrich purification plant were affected by theboil advisory.