Photo of water faucet by Flickr user Tom Raftery; published under Creative Commons license.
The Phoenicia Water District is currently under a boil water advisory until further notice. The bitterly cold weather has caused a water shortage, forcing the district to use its backup system of pumping water from the High Street pumphouse near the Esopus Creek, according to an announcement made Sunday afternoon by the Town of Shandaken's water commissioner, Rick Ricciardella.
From a post on the Town of Shandaken's Facebook page:
Water IS being chlorinated.. but advisory is issued. Boil ALL drinking & cooking water until this cold weather breaks. *And PLEASE use water sparingly.. check for running toilets, leaks, etc.
The Daily Freeman's Brian Hubert reports that the boil-water advisory is a precaution, issued by the Ulster County Board of Health because the district's backup system was compromised during Irene.
Ricciardella told the Freeman that the cold weather is freezing springs in the ground, and that it's the worst he's seen in decades:
“It’s the worst it’s been since 1976, when it froze five or six feet down and the mains froze,” he said.
Update: The boil water advisory was lifted on Friday, Jan. 31.
Correction: The backup system pumps water from a pumphouse near the Esopus Creek, not the creek itself, as an earlier draft of this post implied.
