The Brookesmith SUD sent over the following information at 5 p.m. Wednesday:

At 6:30 pm on 2/17/2021 Brookesmith SUD will begin a systematic shutoff of all water to customers. Our water system as a whole and its wholesale customers is or is going to be without water. A boil water notice will be issued today and be in effect until further notice. How long it will take to restore water is not yet known but we are working getting the water restored as quickly as possible.

How did this happen?

Frigid temperatures caused power outages that led to our pumps not being able to run and fill our towers. There was a loss of pressure while we were trying to fill and provide water to all of our customers. Today we have discovered that we are losing water as fast as we could pump it which is being caused by what we believe is a large leak or excessive consumption.

We are still trying to find the problem, so if you have seen any water flowing in the last 12 hours please call our office so we can get it taken care of.

We believed we would be able to keep all our customers in water until this issue was discovered.

What is BSUD doing to rectify the situation?

By shutting off the water slowly over the entire system we are hoping to isolate where the problem may be and get this fixed as quickly as possible. We are diligently working to find the problem and we will be out looking until it is found. We will then work on site until it is fixed and water is restored to all of our customers.

What will happen when water is restored?

Once water is restored any water that comes out of your tap that you plan to consume in any way needs to go through a boiling process, meaning taking it to a vigorous boil for at least two minutes.

Restaurants could serve as long as they practice prescribed boil water procedures in preparation of food or beverages.

All customers will be notified by the local radio station and via our website once boil water notice is lifted.

We ask during this time that customers exercise patience, this is going to be a trying time for our system.