Boil-water order may be lifted today

A boil water order for Indian Hills residents may be lifted this morning.

The order was required by the state as a precaution, said John Lufrano, district manager for the Indian Hills General Improvement District.

The failure of a computer that controls the utility's water pumps caused the water lines to run dry Wednesday - and also knocked out the means to alert the utility staff to what had happened.

Because the lines in the district ran dry, the state told the district to issue a boil-water order until two clean samples had been returned. District employees sent a second water sample for testing early Thursday, so results should be back this morning.

Lufrano said the first reports that the water was out arrived at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday from the Sunridge subdivision, where homes are uphill from the water tanks. When the pumps stopped working, water drained out of those lines.

"The same computer that runs the pumps also notifies the on-call person if there is an issue with the operating system," Lufrano said. "There is no way to determine when it happened."

Most residents who live below the water tanks did not lose water pressure for any substantial time but were still under the boil-water order. Residents were advised to boil tap water for two minutes before drinking it, using it in food or drinks, using it to make ice, or even to brush their teeth with it. About 6,000 people live in the district.

According to Lufrano, the computer's central processing unit burned up. A new computer has been installed and is operating the pumps.

"There's going to be color in the water, so they should go ahead and flush it when they get home," he said.

He said flushing the lines won't affect the quality of the water but should remove any rust color. Because the water cost is $1.95 for 1,000 gallons, he said, flushing shouldn't show up on residents' bills.

"This didn't affect irrigation," he said. "People were still able to take a shower. It's just (their) ability to drink the water out of the tap or make their coffee - just boil the water two minutes, and then they can have their coffee."

It is only a matter of weeks before Indian Hills will be connecting to a pipeline from Minden to Carson City. However, that connection will still go through the district's system. Lufrano said the pipeline connection may be made in the second week of September. The district has until the end of September to connect.

According to Lufrano, there will be an additional layer of warning should the pumps fail.

"If this were to happen on its system, Minden, Douglas County and Carson City would be notified, because they would be able to see if the pumps are running," he said.

Indian Hills resident Jennifer Holt said she's lived in Sunridge for six years and has never had anything like this happen.

"I've been here all day long, not know anything is going on," she said Wednesday. "The lack of information is not good."

For updates, visit the district's website at www.indianhillsnevada.com.