The City of Craig is under a water boil advisory, which went into effect Tuesday morning. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Drinking Water program issued the water notice due to low water pressure.
Jamie Bjorkman is with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. She says when water pressure drops below 20 pounds per square inch, it can cause water that is leaking out of the pipe to get sucked back in.
“That would be dirty muddy water from outside that hasn’t been adequately treated,” Bjorkman said.
When that happens, the water can be contaminated with E. coli, or human or animal waste.
The city was put on a water conservation notice last week due to suspected leaking causing record-low water levels.
Once the leaks have been fixed and the system has been repaired, the public works department will send bacteria samples throughout the system to get tested in a lab. Those results typically take around 24 hours to get back.
Bjorkman says boil water notices are not uncommon and happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they can be resolved in a day or two. But that doesn’t mean the advisory should be ignored.
“Sometimes we feel that people kind of disregard the notices, which is, of course, their choice,” Bjorkman said. “But we are issuing it because there is a risk to public health, and we just want people to be safe.”
The city said they hope to have an update by tomorrow afternoon.
