WELLSBORO - A boil water advisory that went into effect June 4 was lifted Tuesday by the state Department of Environmental Protection after two tests for chloroform came back clean Monday and Tuesday, according to borough officials.
The notice was posted on the borough's website and released to local news outlets early Tuesday afternoon. The advisory went into effect after the borough's two slow sand filters failed to make enough clean water for the borough more than a week ago, said Borough Manager Dan Strausser.
"The filters clogged even though they were just cleaned within the last two months and we couldn't produce enough treated water to service the town," he said. After draining and cleaning one filter, the system had to be filled and run for 24 hours to clear out any leftover impurities.
This is the third time in two years the borough has had to issue a boil water advisory, and it couldn't have come at a worse time, as the borough gets ready to welcome 20,000 visitors for the annual Laurel Festival Parade and queen's coronation.
The borough's main water supply, the Brownlee wells, plus water from Hamilton Lake, goes into the reservoirs off Bryden Street and then is filtered before it flows into borough pipes to water users.
The municipal authority hopes to have a portable membrane water filter system online within a year, following approval by DEP, which will be able to produce enough water for a day for the borough so if it has to take a sand filter offline, it won't have to issue a boil advisory, Strausser said.
