Residents, restaurants cope on day 2 of Colonial Heights boil water advisory

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. (WRIC) -- Colonial Heights residents and restaurants are doing what they can to stay healthy on day two under a boil water advisory that city officials say won't be lifted until Saturday at the earliest.

Officials said a split water main caused an extreme loss of pressure to the city's water main on Wednesday, April 1, leading them to institute a boil water advisory along with the Virginia Department of Health.

While the broken water main has been repaired, it will still be days before the water is safe to drink.

The city's Director of Public Works Andrew Barnes said they were first alerted to a water outage at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

“They identified that it was just a standard split along a 16-inch water main that runs through a swampy area of the city," Barnes said. "As random as it could be. It wasn’t a particularly old pipe or in bad condition. It was just something that happened.”

A contractor began working on the pipe that day and repairs were completed early Thursday morning. Barnes said bacteriological samples were later collected from the water to determine if it's safe to drink. Testing will take days.

Until the advisory is lifted, bottled water should be used in place of tap water. Tap water that has been boiled and cooled is also safe to use.

The city has distributed cases of bottled water since Thursday afternoon, and they plan to continue distribution on Friday once they receive another shipment.

Donnie Warren is one resident dealing with the advisory. He said his solution is getting out of the house as much as possible.

"Haven't been able to drink it but we can wash in it," Warren said. He came to the distribution at the Colonial Heights Technical Center.

"To have drinking water or water to make coffee with," Warren said.

Local restaurants are also adjusting.

"It's kind of been a pain, but we've dealt with it," said Randy Mansini, owner of the Keystone Grill.

Mansini said the Easter holiday weekend typically brings the restaurant a lot of business, so he's doing what he can to keep them open.

"We have the bottled water set up, canned soft drinks, and bagged ice. Using plastic ware, disposable utensils, cleaning all of our tables with sanitizers. Just doing everything to the health protocols,” Mansini said.

City officials ask residents to keep up with official notifications on their website.