Just outside of Snohomish city limits, 75 families who live along South Carpenter Road and OK Mill Road remain under a boil water advisory.
“This has been going into the third week now of the boil water advisory,” said Nova Heaton, Public Works Director for the city of Snohomish.
Heaton says there have been three breaks in a 14.7-mile-long water main, the third break in a very difficult location, and after talking with the county and Snohomish PUD they decided to install new pipework.
“Construction is going on right now, which is good but it’s taking a few days and we cannot pull the boil water advisory off until the new line is in, it’s been pressure tested,” said Heaton.
Heaton estimates work to be complete sometime next week, she says these back-to-back incidents highlight the city’s aging infrastructure.
“We’re looking to try and get some funding, some federal funding to replace a lot of the water lines here, some of them are over 100 years old,” said Heaton.
John Foseizk, who lives in the area, can attest to that.
“Yeah, it’s ancient. When I went to school out here there were wooden pipes that would break all the time, we’d have to go home from school,” said Foseizk.
The city says its been keeping the public informed and say the water has not been contaminated.
Down the line, the city plans to work with the county to develop a better solution to service the area which is outside of city limits.
If you are unsure if the boil water advisory impacts you, you can contact info@snohomishwa.gov for more information.