Emergency boil order - Mallory-Amelia-Hemingway-Largo-Hadley-Poinciana-Duval-Bonita

[pcri2009]

There is a boil order in effect for Mallory and 6 other villages in our area, unfortunately I could not get the other village names from the water dept. Boil 5 - 7 minutes, all water usage!

[sandybill2]

Just saw on The Villages TV Station --boiling order for Mallory--Amelia--Hemingway--Largo--Hadley- Poinciana--Duval and Bonita.

[golf2140]

They are running a banner on channel 2.

[redwitch]

Do we have any idea how long this is supposed to last? Or what caused the problem? What about showers? Are they okay to take? Unfortunately, I have Dish Network and that means no local TV station or any real info.

Thanks for any and all info.

[pcri2009]

They are making announcements on the radio, calling the water department is useless, I suggested that they use the reverse 911 system through Sumter County to inform the citizens and they never heard of it. Just went up to the mail box area of Mallory, nothing up there and the water fountains are operating without any warning. We are using the telephone system in Mallory to call all of our neighbors.

[redwitch]

Thanks for the head's up and further info.

[villager964]

Is it safe to run the dishwasher? I know it's not safe to brush one's teeth with the water.

[Niels]

Do we have any idea how long this is supposed to last? Or what caused the problem? What about showers? Are they okay to take? Unfortunately, I have Dish Network and that means no local TV station or any real info.

Thanks for any and all info.

The local TV station (Channel 2) said the boil water advisory is in effect for the areas that Sandybill2 mentioned until further notice. They did not list the reason or give any further details except for stating that more information would be in tomorrow's Daily Sun.

[bkcunningham1]

I tried to find more. Hope it helps with questions.

http://www.districtgov.org/departments/Utilities/utilities.aspx

[golfnut]

Thanks for the heads up but where is the date of this directive....gn

[joannej]

What areas are affected? Where did you hear about this? Thanks in advance for the info. The site offers no info!

[twynsmom]

We first heard about it tonight (Monday) on the local radio station. I don't recall all the villages involved, but some of them are: duval, hemingway, hadley, amelia, St. Charles

[herbaru]

What areas are affected? Where did you hear about this? Thanks in advance for the info. The site offers no info!

As posted in another thread about the boil water order:
"Just saw on The Villages TV Station --boiling order for Mallory--Amelia--Hemingway--Largo--Hadley- Poinciana--Duval and Bonita."

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/showthread.php?p=252710

[golfnut]

that's the right thread...gn

[ijusluvit]

Has anyone seen an accurate explanation of the cause of the boil water order, the extent and severity of the problem and whether there is a permanent remedy in the works?

[graciegirl]

The boil water advisory was on Wesh 2 news at eleven.

I don't think we have made Orlando's news since that woman shot her husband in the bath a few months ago.

We just boiled the kitties water supply.

[RichieLion]

Called up the Water Dept. and got message to call Community Watch after hours. I was told by Community Watch that the "boil water" directive is real. I was told water was to be brought to a rolling boil for 1 minute before use. She told me that the area was too big to be notified house by house; and that it was being reported on The Villages TV on channel 2 and to watch for a story in Tuesday's Daily Sun. It's lucky I got an email from my village of Bonita Social Club director or I wouldn't have known about it and been at risk. There should be a way for resident's to be notified of an emergency like this. In my New Jersey town of Elmwood Park a town vehicle would have slowly drove through town broadcasting on a speaker of the danger to the community. How hard is that for The Villages Community Watch to do. If they don't have such a vehicle, they should.

[Whalen]

Called up the Water Dept. and got message to call Community Watch after hours. I was told by Community Watch that the "boil water" directive is real. I was told water was to be brought to a rolling boil for 1 minute before use. She told me that the area was too big to be notified house by house; and that it was being reported on The Villages TV on channel 2 and to watch for a story in Tuesday's Daily Sun. It's lucky I got an email from my village of Bonita Social Club director or I wouldn't have known about it and been at risk. There should be a way for resident's to be notified of an emergency like this. In my New Jersey town of Elmwood Park a town vehicle would have slowly drove through town broadcasting on a speaker of the danger to the community. How hard is that for The Villages Community Watch to do. If they don't have such a vehicle, they should.

Thumbs down to TV's handeling of this situation.
What good is reading about it in tomorrow's Sun goint to do for us today?
As some one mentioned in another thread why didn't they use the reverse 911 program that works quite well for storm warnings.
Not everyone is watching the TV Loop or listening to oldies on the radio.

Just brushed my teeth with bottled water thanks to TOTV and not TV.

:cus::cus::cus:

[ceejay]

I worked all day yesterday...came home, made dinner...drank at least 3 glasses of tapwater with ice...drank coffee...I'm now drinking my morning coffee that was set up last night:mornincoffee:...and now I find out on TOTV that I was supposed to boil all that water?

What happened and what's going on? :confused:

Should I plan on calling out sick today?

[debzaranti]

Are they saying how long the boil order is in effect? We have DISH Network so we don't get The Villages TV station. Thanks!

[islandgal]

I just received the Sun

I was expecting front page. I am wondering about the residents and guest who do not receive the paper or watch Channel 2.
There is a small article in Briefs on Page A-3 saying due to a temporary disruption in service from a water treatment plant, low water system resulted.
The notice will remain in effect until further notice and use:
Boiling water for use in drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, cooking and washing dishes. For all other uses, the tap water is acceptable.
Guidelines online at www.districtgov.org or calling Utility Customer Service at 750-0000.

Those affected: Amelia, Hadley, Hemingway, Largo, Bonita, Mallory Square, Poinciana and Duval.

[BogeyBoy]

I also was looking for that headline.

I don't see anything on the district website, of course that could also be a small article buried somewhere.

I think this is an extremely poor way of communicating a potential health issue.

I would venture a guess that the majority of residents in the mentioned villages know nothing of this boil water alert and had their evening cocktails over ice, washed dishes, brushed their teeth, etc. without giving it a thought as they had no knowledge of this alert.

We rarely watch channel 2. Where else would a resident get this info? A reverse 911 call would certainly be in order. Someone mentioned they called the water department and were told they never heard of reverse 911. How about if there were a major water issue, like someone poisoned it? Maybe every community watch employee should be called into work and go door to door.

Thanks to TOTV for getting the word out.

[BogeyBoy]

I tried to find more. Hope it helps with questions.

http://www.districtgov.org/departments/Utilities/utilities.aspx

Thanks for the link, when I originally looked on the district gov website I didn't see it, then I saw your link. (Still don't know exactly where it is buried, just that your link takes me there!)

I don't know if this is a permanent posting on the website, no specific details pertaining to this alert (like villages under the alert).

I like the last sentence, "You will be contacted likewise when the boil water notice has been lifted". I guess that means you will not be notified.

[bkcunningham1]

Sorry that my original post on this thread caused confusion golfnut. I wrongly started a new thread without referencing a previous discussion outlining the areas that the boil water notice affected. I was hurriedly trying to gather helpful info while at the same time attempting to get off the computer to play Wii Yahtzee and Battleship with Mr. C. Again, sorry.

http://www.wesh.com/news/22780899/detail.html

[twynsmom]

:cus: I "ditto" all the above comments. Had it we not happen to be listening to the radio last night on our lanai, we would NOT have known about the boil water order. Now they are saying we will be notified when the boil water is lifted. HOW???? The same way they notified all of us of the order in the first place? We happen to have Directv, thus we do not get the local tv station. This may be a good example to mention on the current "survey"..We need better ::censored: communication here in TV..Thank God for TOTV...Thank you TOTV

[ajbrown]

We have three of my wife's sisters here and a 3 year old for a visit. We just happened to find out because we bumped into a neighbor coming home.

The three people are from 3 different states in the US. All were shocked that we did not get a call or knock on the door.

Water Dept says "Too many people to notify?". Are you kidding me? What if 10% of those people get sick or worse, then was the effort too great?

WOW.....

[tony]

.

[graciegirl]

I just called The Daily Sun and spoke to a (very authoritive sounding) person in the front page area. I asked for the editor .

I don't do confrontations well and I couched my "OUCH" between compliments and she said something like...I don't know what else we could do, we had it on the radio and on our TV station and there was a continuous crawl about it. She sounded annoyed.

I said..we have DIRECT TV, I don't think it carries the local Villages station..anyway...we didn't see it on TV except for WESH 2.

I then said, this is a HEALTH issue. THERE are BUGS in that water. WE are SENIORS and we need to know about it.

She thanked me for calling in an annoyed sort of way.

Here is the number I used. Maybe a few calls from us will get the point across.
352.752.1119

[EdV]

The Boil Order includes washing dishes. Does anybody know for sure if it’s safe to use a dishwasher or are they only referring to hand washing.

Most (all ?) dishwashers today have a heater element built in that can be used to raise the temperature to some level, but I have no idea if it would be sufficient for use during this boil order period.

Anyone know?

[CJ]

Many of us are too busy to watch tv channel 2, as in my case. I never saw the warning until the 11pm news so I have been drinking and using water in food all day. Went to the colony pool...no notice or discussion about this from anyone and went to the rec center...no notice or warning.
The best is that there is not a single word about this in the newspaper!
Someone will get sick and the villages is not caring about the residents who may be impacted by the contaminated water. Not a great nor comforting feeling about how the villages consider us and our health.

[KathieI]

I have another, "does anyone know" question.
Does anyone know if the filtered water in the front of the refrigerator is safe? I'm not sure but am not using it just in case.

OH, BTW, WOOF, WOOF.... don't forget not to fill the doggie water bowls from the tap. Thankfully, Dr.Valdez says to only use distilled water for them anyway, so my dawgs drink "Gourmet" water...

[pcri2009]

I truly believe that the district adminstration let the residents of these affected villages down. Last night at 7:00 PM the Rec centers were still providing water to scheduled events from their taps in the mallory area. After mentioning to the attendants, they removed the water.

I suggested that notices at each gate and mail center would have helped a bit to get the word out faster in addition to the reverse 911 system. I have sent a complaint to the district administration office and I suggest that we all do that. Their email address is customerservice@districtgov.org, do not use the District adminstration email address as it is not working.

[NJblue]

I must admit that this incident has for the first time made me question the lack of any local, elected government in TV. If this had happened in any other community and the communication was as bad, the elected officials would rightly be held accountable at the voting booths. Unfortunately in this case our system of benevolent dictatorship appears to be broken and we have no recourse other than to complain to each other and mention it in a survey.

There are many means to disseminate this information:
Community Watch
Firetrucks which, in communities that I am from, had loudspeakers
bulletins plastered all over the mail stations
announcements made by rec center staffs to all people coming into the building and at the pool
reverse 911

All of these are available immediately and should be under the control of Janet Tutt at the CDD. She dropped the ball on this one, as did the developer who doesn't even deem this important enough to put it on the front page (apparently assuming that everyone already knows about it). In addition to the above methods of communication, the developer could also use email to distribute the information. As I recall, when we "checked in" after buying we provided our email addresses. A simple database of email addresses with fields for village and section number would allow for rapid communication with narrowly targeted populations.

Were it not for TOTV, we would still be guzzling tap water. As it is we did not find out until I logged on last night after 11:00 PM.

TV is a great concept and exceedingly well planned in just about all areas - except this one.

[bkcunningham1]

I have looked all over the Florida government pages without any success about dishwashers and ice makers except for this for commercial businesses:

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/fs/boilwaternotice.pdf


But I found this very good info from another state for residential water:

http://www.charlestonwater.com/custserv_svc_intptns_boil_advisory.htm

Here is the EPA:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html

[graciegirl]

Many of us are too busy to watch tv channel 2, as in my case. I never saw the warning until the 11pm news so I have been drinking and using water in food all day. Went to the colony pool...no notice or discussion about this from anyone and went to the rec center...no notice or warning.
The best is that there is not a single word about this in the newspaper!
Someone will get sick and the villages is not caring about the residents who may be impacted by the contaminated water. Not a great nor comforting feeling about how the villages consider us and our health.

To be fair, there was an article on the second page of The Daily Sun, but it really didn't say why, how, not too much of what or when ....

[Taltarzac]

To be fair, there was an article on the second page of The Daily Sun, but it really didn't say why, how, not too much of what or when ....

Really suprised that this was not posted on all the postal stations in the affected Villages???

[bkcunningham1]

As for information to the public in this circumstance, the Florida Department of Health is the lead agency. Note the last paragraph. From the Florida:

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
DRINKING WATER PROGRAM
GUIDELINES FOR THE ISSUANCE OF PRECAUTIONARY BOIL WATER NOTICES

All precautionary boil water notices shall be issued and delivered to the general public in a manner consistent with the public notification requirements contained in Chapter 62-560.410(1)(a) 1., Florida Administrative Code (FAC), telephoned, or hand-delivered to all affected residences and businesses as soon as possible, but in no case later than 24 hours after the water system learns of the violation, exceedance, situation or failure.

Additionally, the DOH shall take the lead role in cooperating with other governmental agencies and all contacts with the media regarding emergency notices involving any and all imminent threats to public health involving private and public water supply systems.

According to Chapter 62-560.410(1)(a), which is referenced in the guidelines, apparently the type of notice depends on the reason for the notice and the type of water system issueing the notice:

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/legal/Rules/drinkingwater/62-560.pdf

You have to be an attorney to decipher the language...but bottom line, the DOH, in their own words, is responsible for overseeing the public notice.

[BogeyBoy]

I have looked all over the Florida government pages without any success about dishwashers and ice makers except for this for commercial businesses:

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/fs/boilwaternotice.pdf


But I found this very good info from another state for residential water:

http://www.charlestonwater.com/custserv_svc_intptns_boil_advisory.htm

Here is the EPA:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html

Great links - thanks.

What do you think Havana, McDonalds, The China Gourmet, Beef O'Brady's, etc.are doing? How about Publix food prep areas?

[cabo35]

BK - Thanks for the information and informative links.

[graciegirl]

Bk...you know how to get information!

I emailed the link provided and I think it would be a good idea for others to do so too.

We drink bottled water chilled but use ice in other drinks. We feel fine. Our cats have diarrhea...I don't know if it is because of the water.

My dear neighbor is on chemo which really whallops your immune system.

Lots of reason to know what is happening.

[bkcunningham1]

You know Gracie, my Mom was on dialysis for about five years before she passed. The water quality for that process as well as nursing homes, hospitals, schools, daycare facilities, not to mention eating establishments is a serious thing.

I am from a very rural area of the country where many people have wells and springs and even cisterns as a water source. In just the past decade, a majority of the residents in the county where I was born now have water available from a Public Service Authority water system. I became well acquainted with the Virginia Department of Health's water quality people as a young reporter in the area.

When the state would check private wells and find bacteria, say from fecal matter from cattle grazing near a water source, they'd issue a notice. The folks on the private system would get all up in arms about the government imposing regulations on them and call me. I know both sides of the story. Even researched (in the days before Internet) and wrote about a state run water fluoridation program that had people screaming it was a conspriacy to drug Americans. What an interesting story.

It is a big leap of faith to trust strangers with your water.

But if my tax dollars are paying someone to keep me "safe" with something as common and important as water, I want them to do their job properly.

Sorry for the rant and thank you for your tolerance. But researching with the Internet, and verifying things, is so much fun for an old retired reporter.

[Canabarrybarb]

We've all be seriously let down by The Villages. I don't want an apology. I want to know what process they are going to put in place so that next time we all get reasonable notice so that we can protect ourselves.

There have been many excellent suggestions in this thread.

[JimJoe]

Does anyone know if reverse 911 will work in cell phones? What if you are snow bird? I think the mass email, twitter, chain calls, and texts may be the answer. They are instant.

[Whalen]

To be fair, there was an article on the second page of The Daily Sun, but it really didn't say why, how, not too much of what or when ....


Sorry GG, I'm not with you on this one.

It has nothing to do with "Fair".

Upper left, short column, with very little info, 24 hours after the event started is simply too little and in some cases too late.

The paper and the developers handeling of this situation is unfogiveable.

They should be ashamed of themselves.

[Whalen]

Does anyone know if reverse 911 will work in cell phones? What if you are snow bird? I think the mass email, twitter, chain calls, and texts may be the answer. They are instant.

If you register your cell phone the system works.

When the last storm warning was issued in the early morning hours our whole house was ringing.

[rshoffer]

I worked all day yesterday...came home, made dinner...drank at least 3 glasses of tapwater with ice...drank coffee...I'm now drinking my morning coffee that was set up last night:mornincoffee:...and now I find out on TOTV that I was supposed to boil all that water?

What happened and what's going on? :confused:

Should I plan on calling out sick today?Might wanna buy some extra Charmin...

[rshoffer]

I have another, "does anyone know" question.
Does anyone know if the filtered water in the front of the refrigerator is safe? I'm not sure but am not using it just in case.

OH, BTW, WOOF, WOOF.... don't forget not to fill the doggie water bowls from the tap. Thankfully, Dr.Valdez says to only use distilled water for them anyway, so my dawgs drink "Gourmet" water...
Maverick gave me a 2 paws up on the toilet bowl.

[TrudyM]

I tried to find an old notice I had once from when we lived in CT. but I must have tossed it. It was hand delivered to every house. (wierd I never throw anything out) Anyway if I remember correctly, the dishwasher is only safe if it has a high heat sanitize setting, which most none commercial ones don't. It said to add clorine bleach to a sink of boiled water and soak the clean dishes from the dishwasher in it for 10 min.

The water from the fridge goes through a carbon filter this removes clorine not bacteria. So you all should turn off the valve to your refs and then flush them with alot of water to clean out the lines after the water is back to being safe. If it is like the mess we went through the clorine levels in the water for the week after the ban is lifted will be very high to kill the bacteria that got in all the pipes. If it is not scream all over place guys, threaten a class action suit only a threat to the pocket book gets results.

That said most healthy people, from what I gleamed off the net will be fine unless it is a high level contamination, in which case the county health dept should be roving the neighborhoods. By the way, I think if the villages are in an unincorporated area (they are right) The county health department has juristiction.

Hope this helps

Hope this helps a little.

[Whalen]

I must admit that this incident has for the first time made me question the lack of any local, elected government in TV. If this had happened in any other community and the communication was as bad, the elected officials would rightly be held accountable at the voting booths. Unfortunately in this case our system of benevolent dictatorship appears to be broken and we have no recourse other than to complain to each other and mention it in a survey.

There are many means to disseminate this information:
Community Watch
Firetrucks which, in communities that I am from, had loudspeakers
bulletins plastered all over the mail stations
announcements made by rec center staffs to all people coming into the building and at the pool
reverse 911

All of these are available immediately and should be under the control of Janet Tutt at the CDD. She dropped the ball on this one, as did the developer who doesn't even deem this important enough to put it on the front page (apparently assuming that everyone already knows about it). In addition to the above methods of communication, the developer could also use email to distribute the information. As I recall, when we "checked in" after buying we provided our email addresses. A simple database of email addresses with fields for village and section number would allow for rapid communication with narrowly targeted populations.

Were it not for TOTV, we would still be guzzling tap water. As it is we did not find out until I logged on last night after 11:00 PM.

TV is a great concept and exceedingly well planned in just about all areas - except this one.


Thank you Blue,

Well said.

The actions , or should I say inaction, of the Sun and the the powers that be has been simply unacceptable.

I am truly dissapointed.

[NJblue]

Does anyone know if reverse 911 will work in cell phones? What if you are snow bird? I think the mass email, twitter, chain calls, and texts may be the answer. They are instant.

I believe that there are two different systems at play here. Up North we had a true reverse 911 system - "true" in the sense that no registration was required. In an emergency situation the police were able to make bulk calls to selected telephone exchanges and all numbers in that exchange received a call - no registration was required. I don't believe that this system was programmed to dial cell phones since, unlike wired lines, cell phones have no geographic boundaries. I'm not sure if such a system is operable down here.

However, Sumter County does have a subscription system that allows residents to register with the county to receive notifications. Yes, this system does work with cell phones and yes it does work very effectively. When we had the tornado warning back in January both of our cell phones rang within a minute of our weather radio sounding the alarm. Of course, the downside of having cell phones linked to this system is that if you are in a different state, you will still get the warning. (However, too much warning is better than too little.)

[twynsmom]

I just heard (12 PM) on Wesh 2 news that the results of the testing will not be available until tomorrow afternoon at the latest. At least they are keeping us updated on this issue.

[rshoffer]

Last night when I got to the Colony gym around 6pm people were working out, going to the fountain, drinking the water... I said to the person in charge at the front desk that there was a water boil advisory in effect and I thought it included the Colony gym. She hadn't heard anything about it. Of course after she made some calls signs got posted on the fountains not to drink the water.

I assumed at that point this was very precautionary and that any risk was very minimal.

[ejp52]

I'm very concerned due to my being on the medicine Humira for arthritis,which lowers the immune system.
Would have been nice to know before last night!:swear:

[chelsea24]

I agree with whoever said "Class Action Suit" The pocketbook is the only thing that talks! :censored: This is completely unacceptable. I'm most annoyed that they do not give you a hint as to what caused this!

We live in one of the Villages on the list and I too have pets. Also Direct TV, which doesn't get The Villages station. And we're supposed to do what??? Wait until the next morning??? Appalling!

I used to feel like the Villages had my back, but I certainly don't feel that way anymore. My husband just had surgery and is still on the mend. Many, many people have far worse situations. This is completely uncalled for and could have easily been remedied with the firetrucks loud speaker system.

Someone better get off their well paid arses and do something about this!:grumpy:

Thanks TOTV for keeping us posted. (No pun intended!) :kiss:

[pcri2009]

Here is the response I received from the District Offices:
Good afternoon
Thank you for your email regarding the notification for boil water situations. The District does have a procedure in place when a situation has occurred that the system has been breached to the point of possible contamination. The situation that occurred yesterday was due to low pressure. There was never a breach of the system where a backup occurred or a pipe burst. Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) requires that notice be placed on TV, Radio and in the newspaper as a precaution for a low pressure situation. This requirement was followed. In the event where the system was breached additional notification would have included door hangers (where under 500 homes are affected), reverse 911, weather bug and placed on the District website

(Respondents Name Ommitted by Pcri2009) so I guess the situation was not bad enough but we continue to have to boil our household water!

[JimJoe]

huh? If the problem is serious enough to tell people to boil water until further notice, it is serious enough to notify them by all available means to boil water. I am confused.

[golf2140]

Folks, it appears that they are following some governmental regulation here. They are doing what must be done. Don't you think that if it was a serious health issue more action would have been taken. Remember they are following government regulations and we all know that they are over bearing.

[Pturner]

In reading the requirements in http://www.dep.state.fl.us/legal/Rul...ter/62-560.pdf, it appears to me that legal Public Notification requirements were followed. That's not to say the situation was handled well.

Even without a reverse 911 or personal notification system, it seems some common sense steps were missing. All employees at the rec. centers, golf courses and other public venues should have been notified. Restaurants and other affected businesses should have been notified directly. Notices should have been posted in public places. News reports and postings (had there been any) should have encouraged people to share the information with their neighbors.



News reports should have/ should included:

the cause of the drop in water pressure; or if not known yet, what is being done to detect the problem
where water samples have been take since the water pressure problem was identified and when the results will be known
what corrective measures are being/will be taken to restore water quality
what measures are needed to avoid a similar recurrence
what symptoms people might experience if they drank contaminated water and what they should do about it (see their doctor)
the fact that most people in good health would not likely experience any health problems-- if indeed this is accurate. I think it is.
instructions for the various water uses (dishwashing, ice, showering, etc.)
statement asking neighbors to notify neighbors
Transparency builds trust and credibility. Why is that so hard for some officials to understand?

BTW, I spoke with someone in customer service and shared these suggestions as well as others previously posted (reverse 911, etc.). She took notes and said the feedback was most welcomed. She said she was aware that many people were upset with how the communication was handled and that management is meeting this afternoon to talk about how to better handle the situation moving forward.

We shall see.

[bkcunningham1]

Thanks golf2140. That is exactly correct. The level of notice depends on the level of threat to residents' health (I suppose ranging from bellyache to ....I dunno, threat to life).

I started to repost a previous post about Chapter 62-560.410(1)(a), which is referenced in the Florida Dept. of Health's boil water notice guidelines, apparently the type of notice depends on the reason for the notice and the type of water system issueing the notice:

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/legal/Rul...ter/62-560.pdf

I have to curb my enthusiam at "looking things up" as my husband says, in order to not sound preachy. The level of notifiying us depends on why the notice was initiated. Like I told Gracie in my previous rant, government intervention sometimes puts people "up in arms." Rightly or wrongly, those in charge (Florida Dept. of Health) did the notice to the letter of the law. Sometimes that doesn't include commonsense.

[Pturner]

I agree with whoever said "Class Action Suit" The pocketbook is the only thing that talks! :censored: This is completely unacceptable. I'm most annoyed that they do not give you a hint as to what caused this!

We live in one of the Villages on the list and I too have pets. Also Direct TV, which doesn't get The Villages station. And we're supposed to do what??? Wait until the next morning??? Appalling!

I used to feel like the Villages had my back, but I certainly don't feel that way anymore. My husband just had surgery and is still on the mend. Many, many people have far worse situations. This is completely uncalled for and could have easily been remedied with the firetrucks loud speaker system.

Someone better get off their well paid arses and do something about this!:grumpy:

Thanks TOTV for keeping us posted. (No pun intended!) :kiss:

Hi Chels, This might be an overreaction. They appear to have followed the law and it could be that the boil notice was more out of abundance of precaution than due to a significant health threat. Of course, when they disclose so little information, they should expect alarm.

[JimJoe]

Which is it? Serious enough to boil and but not to inform, or not serious enough to inform but you should boil? This makes no sense. Is the water safe right now or not? People need clarity.

[rshoffer]

Is this the same water they make the Cool-Aid from? (sorry, couldn't help myself)

[The Shadow]

When the people in Mallory--Amelia--Hemingway--Largo--Hadley- Poinciana--Duval and Bonita write a check to pay the water bill, who do they make the check out to???

[TomW]

Who do you call to register your cell phone for the reverse 911 or similar system for Sumter County?

[jtdraig]

My personal opinion is that about 1000 letters need to be sent to Janet Tutt and to the Daily Sun..............the emergency communications for weather related information is the telephone...and they should have used that.

[NJblue]

My personal opinion is that about 1000 letters need to be sent to Janet Tutt and to the Daily Sun..............the emergency communications for weather related information is the telephone...and they should have used that.

I have already sent an email to her and those on her staff who should be involved. I tried to keep it positive with ideas, etc., but let her know that they dropped the ball on this. No response so far.

[coffeebean]

Just wondering...has anyone who drank the water all day yesterday, become ill in any way??? I drank tap water yesterday and so far, I'm fine.

[graciegirl]

Good afternoon Ms.........(Tony says we shouldn't put our last name)



Thank you for your email. The NSU water system experienced a low pressure yesterday that required a precautionary boil water notification (PBWN). The water system was never breached (water line break, backup) to the point of possible contamination. When low pressure is experienced in a water system the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) requires that a public service announcement (PSA) is provided to the local television and radio stations and the local newspaper. This requirement was followed.



Water samples have been taken and sent for testing that takes 24-48 hours. As soon as we receive clearance the boil water notification will be rescinded and we will place this information on the District website (front page), a PSA will be provided to the radio, television and in the newspaper, e-notification and we will send out a reverse 911 notification.



Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions

Again thank you.

Have a good evening.



Diane Tucker

Administrative Operations Manager

352-751-6700

[islandgal]

1. Can we use the dishwasher?
2. Can we shower?
3. Can we use our clothes washer?

PS - I sent letters to Janet Tutt and Daily Sun -
no response yet.......................

[yarnspinner]

So, what are the lessons learned from this experience?

[rshoffer]

So, what are the lessons learned from this experience?We don't know how good we have it.

[JohnN]

We're not there, but thanks for your effort and for sharing this, graciegirl
thanks very much

[JohnN]

I may write the operations manager person above, maybe they should have a text message/email process, college campuses have this feature, why not TV

[joannej]

Want to hear some shocking news? My husband overheard a conversation today between a couple who live in Amelia and a waitress this morning. This couple are still boiling their water since last August!!! Can you image doing this for that duration of time? Any one know any more info about this and in what area of Amelia this is occurring?

[joannej]

Is this the same water they make the Cool-Aid from? (sorry, couldn't help myself)

______________________________________________
I know you're trying to add levity to the moment, but this is not a matter to joke about. This is day 1 and I'm not liking this at all.

[rshoffer]

Oh... and BTW, unless I missed it, there was nothing at all in The Sun this am. I went thru the paper fast so I mighta missed something.

[jss3rd]

Following is a message I just sent to the Governing Community District, that sums up how I feel right now:

"I am a little outraged, and as a retired attorney, extremely shocked that affected residents of The Villages were not properly notified and warned of a potentially life threatening situation!!! We live in Duval and did not hear until late yesterday afternoon that a water boil was in effect for residents of Duval, and that was only because my father-in-law called my wife to warn us.

We had seen nothing on the news, so I went to the Village Sun (online) and could not find any mention of such a situation. My wife asked a neighbor who said he had heard about the warning, so I went back online and went to Topix.com and searched that site – still nothing. I finally found a mention on the Talk of the Villages website, where I found advise to contact you for further info.

I want to know the exact reason what the water boil order was issued, if potentially life threatening bacteria has been found in our water, and why such a lack of any real effort to get the word out to those affected. We need to know whether we should seek medical attention since we continued to drink the water well after the order was issued due to the almost total lack of notification.

As you can tell, I am a little upset and would like a prompt response. Is this the best we can expect from our district government??"

[ceejay]

Please share the response, if and when you get one. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance:thumbup:

[graciegirl]

It is my feeling (Sweetie always rolls his eyes when I say that.) that if we contact the paper and Ms. Tucker ENOUGH that if this happens again things will change.

Like Dr. Hofer, I could not find mention of the boil advisory in this mornings paper. I am used to reading back in Cincinnati...There is a water line break on Montrose Avenue. Clifton and Roselawn are on boil advisory. The very old water line was installed in 1904 and is being replaced. The boil advisory will be in effect until...such and such a time. Or words to that effect.

I am sure we are used to reading things like this. Sometimes construction equipment breaks a line in a new area such as ours. I don't know why anyone would consider it negative to get the word out.

I am disappointed as to how this is being handled.

[coffeebean]

Want to hear some shocking news? My husband overheard a conversation today between a couple who live in Amelia and a waitress this morning. This couple are still boiling their water since last August!!! Can you image doing this for that duration of time? Any one know any more info about this and in what area of Amelia this is occurring?

I have a feeling this couple is out of the loop. Anyone else in Amelia boiling their water since last August. I don't think so!!!

[Army Guy]

We are coming back down tonight, is the water safe to drink yet?

Army Guy

[graciegirl]

We are coming back down tonight, is the water safe to drink yet?

Army Guy

That's our problem Mark, we don't know. If I were you I'd bring one of those little containers that Army Guys wear around their neck with water in it. :mornincoffee:

[BogeyBoy]

Can't believe the Daily Sun didn't run an update.

The front page of the District website has info - but let's be honest - how often do you look at the District website?
http://www.districtgov.org

[Army Guy]

Gracie, I would rather bring a cask like the St Bernard's wear!!!

Ok, we are not leaving till this afternoon so I will continue to monitor the board.

Army Guy

[pcri2009]

Just saw the headline on VNN the Boil Order has been lifted.:pepper2:

[Bubbalarry]

Have they mentioned in any article what would happen should you drink the water?

I for one found out last night. I rarely watch channel 2. The other day I added to my fridge a filter system so I decided to clean out my ice maker and create new ice. Bad, Bad, Bad.

So for the past 2 days I have been using the ice thats contaminated.

Last night was an experience I wish to forget. I spent so much time sitting in the restroom and just left it again prior to this post.

Now channel 2 has just posted that the boil water has been lifted. Not sure if I should be concerned or if I should seek medical help.

[graciegirl]

Just saw the headline on VNN the Boil Order has been lifted.:pepper2:

Bump

[villages07]

This has become a very long thread, but, if you'll recall some of the official responses folks received indicated that the boil water alert was precautionary because of a "low water pressure" situation. They indicated that there was no break, breach, or contamination of the water system.

I agree with what many of you have said.... The Villages/CDD/Public Safety Dept could have handled the notification and information dissemination much better than they did....hopefully there will be a "lessons learned" debrief session from this.

:boom: (I just had to use that new 'smilie')

[Army Guy]

Great that is good to hear.

Army Guy

[rshoffer]

We are coming back down tonight, is the water safe to drink yet?

Army GuySet up a water buffalo in your front yard.

[rshoffer]

I have a feeling this couple is out of the loop. Anyone else in Amelia boiling their water since last August. I don't think so!!!I have a very close friend in Amelia who I see at least weekly.... never mentioned boiling his water.

[Skip]

Why should the developer put anything bad in the Daily Sun. It certainly doesn't sell houses for him

Skip...

[coffeebean]

The boil water has been lifted. Someone already started a new thread about it. Hope that couple that's been boiling their water since last August hears about this.

[jtdraig]

Why should the developer put anything bad in the Daily Sun. It certainly doesn't sell houses for him

Skip...

The innuendo that arises most certainly has the potential to be more damaging than simply putting a boil order in a more prominent place in the paper. Just my humble opinion....

[yarnspinner]

I'm a newbie and a previous post I submitted got bumped because I inserted a URL. I wanted to bring to the attention of the forum something I found from the Florida Department of Health.

In a nutshell it is this:

"A drop in water pressure in a water distribution system is a signal of the existence of conditions which could allow contamination to enter the public water system through backflow by back-pressure or back-siphonage. Water pressure falling below the regulated service level of 20 psi does not, in the absence of other aggravating factors, necessarily constitute an imminent health hazard, unless determined by the DOH or DEP district office."

This is Section III-C of the above-mentioned Guidelines. If anyone is interested in the URL and knows how I can post it, let me know.

Yarnspinner

[chelsea24]

Well, this is interesting. I just received a call on my phone and cell phone that the water caution has been lifted. Must be that all of our phone calls got to them because I never got a warning at all, but they now called to say it's been lifted. Bet they don't make that mistake again!!! Good work group!!!:thumbup:

[chelsea24]

I'm a newbie and a previous post I submitted got bumped because I inserted a URL. I wanted to bring to the attention of the forum something I found from the Florida Department of Health.

In a nutshell it is this:

"A drop in water pressure in a water distribution system is a signal of the existence of conditions which could allow contamination to enter the public water system through backflow by back-pressure or back-siphonage. Water pressure falling below the regulated service level of 20 psi does not, in the absence of other aggravating factors, necessarily constitute an imminent health hazard, unless determined by the DOH or DEP district office."

This is Section III-C of the above-mentioned Guidelines. If anyone is interested in the URL and knows how I can post it, let me know.

Yarnspinner

Thanks Yarnspinner, I never could figure out why low water pressure meant we had to boil water. Thanks for the info! :wave:

[jtdraig]

Great..now we can go back to complaining about the traffic circles :-)

[chelsea24]

Now they just texted me! hahaha! Where were they two nights ago! :024:

[coffeebean]

Great..now we can go back to complaining about the traffic circles :-)

Great...I'm in.

[yarnspinner]

Thanks Yarnspinner, I never could figure out why low water pressure meant we had to boil water. Thanks for the info! :wave:

You're welcome -- glad to help. I was given instructions on how to insert the link in case you are interested in the entire document:

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/ENVIRONMENT/water/manual/boilnew.htm

Check out section III-C.

Yarnspinner

[Layaway Queen]

Hello,

I was wondering if this boil order is still in effect and if they know what caused it in the first place. We are coming down for the month of May and have a lovely place rented in Amelia and was concerned when I read that.

any information you could provide would be appreciated.
thank you,
sincerely,
layaway queen

[yarnspinner]

The boil water order was a technicality predicated on a drop in water pressure. The boil water order was canceled.

I think there is a posting elsewhere in this forum.

[DeafDeaf]

I have a question for all of you...

How did you become aware of the Precautionary Boil Water Notice? Especially on Late Monday afternoon (March 8th)? Were it announced visually (not audio) at same time or some time later such as tomorrow morning's Daily Sun? Your feedback will be appreciated.

The reason for this is that the District claimed that they did notify everyone as much as possible but promptly? I do not think so. I am hearing out from you. Thanks in advance.

[DeafDeaf]

Did the District Government announce the new system, email notification (e-notifications) for different categories? Did you hear from them to encourage you to sign up for this type of notification? I never heard about it until after this incident!

[graciegirl]

I have a question for all of you...

How did you become aware of the Precautionary Boil Water Notice? Especially on Late Monday afternoon (March 8th)? Were it announced visually (not audio) at same time or some time later such as tomorrow morning's Daily Sun? Your feedback will be appreciated.

The reason for this is that the District claimed that they did notify everyone as much as possible but promptly? I do not think so. I am hearing out from you. Thanks in advance.

I heard about it on Orlando's WESH 2 news and the announcement was both auditory and visual.

[DeafDeaf]

Thanks GracieGirl.

However, do I expect to watch the Orlando's WESH 2 at all times? That may be a big demerit! Whenever there is any alert like Homeland Security Level, it should be announced in every media as much as possible. Just wondering.

[NJblue]

Thanks GracieGirl.

However, do I expect to watch the Orlando's WESH 2 at all times? That may be a big demerit! Whenever there is any alert like Homeland Security Level, it should be announced in every media as much as possible. Just wondering.

I don't think there is any question that the initial communication about this was poorly handled for all groups of people (hearing and non-hearing). However, I think we should give them credit for responding to the criticism and modifying their communication method when issuing the all clear notification (which I assume will be used for all future alarms.) The new methods include both audible and written communication. However, it does require a proactive step taken by each of us in the sense that everyone should register with the county for their emergency notification (at a minimum). It also may be useful to register with the district.gov site for e-notification.

[Bogie Shooter]

:agree:I don't think there is any question that the initial communication about this was poorly handled for all groups of people (hearing and non-hearing). However, I think we should give them credit for responding to the criticism and modifying their communication method when issuing the all clear notification (which I assume will be used for all future alarms.) The new methods include both audible and written communication. However, it does require a proactive step taken by each of us in the sense that everyone should register with the county for their emergency notification (at a minimum). It also may be useful to register with the district.gov site for e-notification.

I agree!

[graciegirl]

:agree:

I agree!

Me too!