CLINTON, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Clinton Mayor Jack Gilfoy Jr. says the circumstances that lead to boil orders are something that is out of the city’s control, but due to planning and transparency, he feels the community is cooperative despite the inconvenience.
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“There was a huge tree root and it had grown into the water line,” said Gilfoy.
It all started with a root and a report of a water leak.
“It was pretty extensive and at that time we knew that we would have to shut the tower down,” said Gilfoy.
Luckily, the city of Clinton has a plan for boil orders and a list of whom to alert.
“We have the hospital, restaurants, the mini-marts, anybody that’s really affected with water use, we try to call them,” said Gilfoy.
One of the places that received a call about the boil order Tuesday night was Gerrie’s Italian restaurant. The staff at Gerrie’s immediately went to work informing their patrons and preparing for the next day of service.
“We disconnect the water main from our ice maker in order to stop the production of new ice with potentially contaminated water, so that means we have to buy a lot of ice in the next two days or whenever the boil order is officially lifted,” said lead server Savanna Eslinger.
While boil orders are certainly an inconvenience, Eslinger says the notice from the city was appreciated.
“That gave us ample time to either go out and make the purchases we need to, disconnect water lines, and just spread the word to our employees and our staff to make sure that everybody’s prepared to give the best service while accommodating the inconvenience of a change in pace,” said Eslinger.
The city of Clinton recently received a $1 million grant for a water project in which they isolated areas to work on to prevent water leaks and improve water lines. Mayor Gilfoy says this particular area didn’t have a valve placed there to prevent this issue.
