Boil-water advisory lifted

February 14, 2002

Boil-water advisory lifted

By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro

MONT ALTO, Pa. - The boil-water advisory for the 650 customers served by the Mont Alto public water system was lifted Wednesday when tests showed there was no danger from bacteria in the water, borough officials said.

The advisory was put into effect Monday following a weekend incident in which muddy water entered the system's only well.

Officials said they weren't sure, but believed the condition was caused by low ground water levels resulting from the current drought.

Ed Nunemaker, water department supervisor, said the theory is that the level in the well dropped so low that the pump had to draw water from another ground water cavity. Silt in the new cavity entered the well and ended up in the system.

Nunemaker said Wednesday that further investigation supports the theory.

Reducing the pumping rate in the well from 110 gallons per minute to 64 gallons ended the muddy water problem, Nunemaker said. The well was still pumping at 64 gallons per minute Wednesday, he said.

Water from the well, about 300 yards behind the borough office building, is pumped up to the borough's reservoir 1 1/2 miles away on a mountain east of the borough.

A spring also supplies water to the reservoir.

Water from the system was sent to a lab over the weekend to test for bacteria. The tests came back negative, Nunemaker said.

Members of the Mont Alto Municipal Authority, which runs the water system, said earlier this week they never thought bacteria had contaminated the well.

Two more tests were taken between Monday and Wednesday and they too proved negative for bacteria, Nunemaker said.

Mont Alto, like all other Franklin and Fulton county communities, is under a state-ordered drought emergency that went into effect Tuesday. Residents must cut their consumption by 10 percent to 15 percent under the restrictions.

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