UPDATE 3:37 p.m. on October 1: Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander has notified KSRM that the Boil Water Advisory has been lifted.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
A Boil Water Advisory is in effect for the city of Kenai until further notice.
Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander said to KSRM News that a tree fell on a power line that was feeding the power plant. Power was lost. Backup generators fired for an indeterminate period of time and then stopped suddenly. At this time there is no reason why the backup generator failed. The city got the generator going again after 5am. When power was restored, water pressure in the lines was below the level it’s supposed to be.
Ostrander said, “But when the power finally was restored the water pressure in the lines was below the level that it should be and because of that we are gonna have to put a boil notice in place until further notice. It will likely be 48 hours or so. We need to do some bacteria testing throughout the system to make sure it’s safe for consumption so the boil notice will be in until those bacteria tests clear.”
He also said, “For anyone who’s on city water and sewer, they should follow the boil notice, which basically means you can use the water in any manner other than consume it. You can take a shower, that’s fine, but drinking the water right now, they should boil the water prior to drinking the water.”
Ostrander said the thing to know is, “We’re taking an abundance of caution, here by putting this putting this boil notice in place. The reality is that the boil notice is likely not necessary, but we want to make sure that people are safe so we are putting it in with an abundance of caution.”
Contact the Water and Sewer Department at (907) 283 – 7535 if you have any additional questions.