FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – People who live north of Palmetto Street in Florence have been advised by the city to boil their water before drinking or cooking.
The notice says DHEC and the City of Florence told residents in the service area north of Palmetto Street from East Main Street in Timmonsville to E. Old Marion Highway to vigorously boil their water as a precautionary measure.
“Because the water quality is unknown at this time, customers are urged to take appropriate precautions. Test results for bacteriological quality should be completed on Thursday, September 27, 2018, at which time the City will notify residents regarding the status of the boil water advisory,” a notice from the City of Florence states.
The notice was issued Wednesday evening after local residents reported low water pressure. Florence School District One dismissed students early Wednesday due to the water pressure issue.
A press release from the city attributes the water issues to flooding and debris from hurricane Florence.
The city’s surface water plant that handles water from the Pee Dee River encountered issues producing quality treated water earlier in the week. On Monday, the plant produced clean water for much of the day, but limited its production from its normal 12 hours to 8 hours. On Tuesday, the plant was unable to produce “acceptable potable water” because of “the ever changing conditions of the flooded and debris laden Pee Dee River,” the press release states.
Though they upstaffed the plant Tuesday night, workers still couldn’t produce clean drinking water, resulting in low water pressures customers found Wednesday.
“Currently, we are still attempting to get the Surface Water Plant operational. In addition, we are attempting to restore service to several water plants that were taken off line for normal maintenance the first of September,” the release states. “At this time, it does appear that system pressures are either holding or increasing. However, we do expect this recovery to be slow and should improve significantly late tonight and into the early morning hours.”
Anyone with questions is asked to call the city at 843-665-3236 or DHEC at 843-661-4825.
