PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A boil water advisory remains in effect for the Norristown water system and other parts of Montgomery County, after a water main broke Monday morning.
Restaurants in the area were told to close unless they could provide an alternate source of clean drinking water to customers — so Collegeville Italian Bakery Pizzeria Napoletana did just that.
“We have a lot going on here,” said co-owner Steve Carcarey. “There are a lot of restaurants that are counting on us to provide them with bread. So of course, we need the water for the bread, but we also have dining here. We have a pizzeria. There’s a lot going on.”
He thought, “We can sit here and complain, or figure out a solution.”
A water hauling company from Pennsauken, New Jersey, called A Clear Alternative, delivered 6,000 gallons of quality water to the bakery in a tanker truck.
“The average store like Steve’s will use about 2,000 gallons of water a day,” said John Dipietropolo, president of A Clear Alternative. “We got about 30 or 40 phone calls. We’re helping Wawa out.”
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Other Norristown dining options are able to operate as usual — like the Zachary’s BBQ & Soul site at the Elmwood Park Zoo — because its food is prepared at a commissary outside the area.
“Any water that people are going to drink or cook with has to be boiled,” explained chef and owner Keith Taylor. “Because all of our food is already sealed in reduced oxygen packaging, we are putting it into water that has been boiled, and we are not even serving this water. So our food is not even coming into contact with this water, but because this water is over 212 degrees, the water is safe, the food is safe.
“From the cleaning side, if this thing runs a couple of days, we already have solutions in place on how we will clean.”
According to Pennsylvania American Water, the boil water advisory will remain in effect until further notice, as crews repair the water main and examine quality tests.
Customers in Norristown and Bridgeport should boil their water before consuming it, as well as residents in parts of East and West Norriton, Upper Merion, Plymouth, Lower Providence, Whitpain, Worcester, Whitemarsh, and Perkiomen townships.
Pennsylvania American Water advises customers in these areas to bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute and cool before drinking or cooking, or use bottled water until further notice. Water is OK for bathing, washing, and other common uses.