The following is a news release from Middleton Borough regarding a boil water advisory:
A contractor working on the new student housing complex being built on former Middletown Cemetery land near Spring Street and Wharton Avenue mistakenly cut through an active water main near that intersection this morning, causing a boil water advisory for approximately 20 families in that vicinity.
The contractor told the Borough’s Public Works staff that its crew thought the pipe they cut was inactive. The boil water advisory became necessary when crews were forced to shut off the flow of water in that section to make repairs.
Under Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection rules, a boil water advisory must be issued whenever there is a loss of pressure in a water line due to the possibility that contamination could be drawn into the line.
Those regulations require the boil water advisory to remain in effect until two consecutive days of testing show no contamination in the affected area. A sample taken following repairs is already on the way to the lab for testing. If that sample, and another to be taken Saturday, are reported free of contamination, the advisory could be lifted by late Saturday afternoon.
The residents affected, all of which reside on Wharton Avenue between Union and North Catherine streets, have received hand-delivered notifications of the advisory. Residents in other areas of the Borough are not impacted and do not have to boil water.
Once the test results indicate the advisory can be lifted, Borough crews will again hand-deliver notification to those residents.
