State of emergency.
At approximately 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning, a “Boil Water Advisory” was issued to all Brocton residents after water service to the village of Brocton water supply, including all of Portland, excluding Van Buren Point, was shut off in order to repair a major leak at Central Avenue and Fifth Street.
See ADVISORY, Page A5 “Around 4 a.m., people were already all over social media, saying they have no water,” said Frost.
There wasn’t much time to inform everyone.
“When service is restored, all water customers must boil their water until further notice,” stated the press release from the Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services.
Do not drink the water without boiling it first or use bottled water until further notice.
Bottled water is now available for customers to pick up at the Brocton Fire Hall.” Luckily, no emergencies occurred while the water service was turned off, stated Frost.
Affected residents will be informed when tests confirm that no harmful bacteria are present in the system.
“There is a time lag between when we get the samples back and we have to make sure the water is clean before we can get the advisory removed, but that would be the county’s decision, not mine.” While the students and staff probably enjoyed their day off of school, having a water main break for the second time in six months isn’t a good thing, especially if that sets the stage for it to happen more frequently.
This is especially bad considering that the water line is relatively new, so an investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the water main break to prevent it from happening again in the near future.