MOUNT VERNON – The City of Mount Vernon issued its second citywide boil advisory in three weeks on Tuesday afternoon, following another water line break.
The advisory is expected to last “at least 24 hours,” city officials said in a statement. It began at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, moments after the city announced that “service will be disrupted for all City of Mount Vernon water customers.”
Having isolated the area of the break, the city will now begin the process of repairing it. At the same time, it will also draw water samples from various sites to be tested for contamination. If any of those samples come back positive, the city will extend the boil advisory for another day.
This was protocol three weeks ago, when Mount Vernon experienced a similar episode. Aging infrastructure is believed to have caused a water-line break near the intersection of West Gambier Street and South Sandusky Street on Oct. 14. The city issued a boil advisory that evening, and it was ultimately lifted 42 hours later after sample contamination tests came back negative.
It’s unclear where and why the latest water line break occurred. City officials did not respond immediately to requests for comment Tuesday.
Before Oct. 14, Mount Vernon had not issued a citywide boil advisory for “five or six years,” City Director of Public Utilities Mathias Orndorf said at the time. There are approximately 7,300 water accounts in the city.
Knox Pages will update this story as more information becomes available.
