A boil-water advisory means water being used for drinking, food preparation or cooking should first be boiled for 10 minutes.
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
A temporary failure of pumps in a Trenton Water Department tower in southern Hopewell Township Tuesday night has led the department to issue a boil-water advisory for the affected areas of the township including, Brandon Farms, Twin Pines, Four Seasons, Smith Crossing, Mershon Chase, Wellington Manor, Hopewell Grant and Hopewell Gardens.
A boil-water advisory means that water being used for drinking, food preparation or cooking should first be boiled for 10 minutes. The advisory is precautionary and remains in effect until noon on Thursday (April 23) or until advised otherwise, township police Chief George Meyer said today (Wednesday).
Chief Meyer said that, at about 8:40 p.m. Tuesday, township police began receiving calls regarding an apparent problem with very low water pressure in the southeast portion of the township, which is served by Trenton Water Department.
Department officials said water pumps at a water tower located in Hopewell Township failed to come on appropriately resulting in the pressure drop. The tower is off Pennington-Lawrenceville Road.
Trenton water employees were unable to start of the pumps remotely, so a water department employee went to the tower and manually started the pumps. Police were informed around 10:30 p.m. that the pressure would be back to normal shortly.
Township police contacted Mercer County Communications, which utilized the Mercer County Reverse 9-1-1 System to make telephone calls to all residents of this area. The calls went out around 11:30 p.m.
The Hopewell Valley Regional School District was alerted to this problem, so Stony Brook Elementary School, which is located in the area, could take appropriate action today, Chief Meyer said. The school is on Stephenson Road in the Brandon Farms development.
Health officials will be working with Trenton Water Department to monitor the water quality for the next 36 hours.
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