An early morning water main break in the city’s water system caused a drop in pressure that may have resulted in contamination of the city water supply.

The city has issued a precautionary boil water advisory for residents in the affected area, which is Skyline addition north of Riverview Drive; north of Chicago Avenue in Black Eagle; northwest of Avenue E; north to Great Bear Avenue and Eagles Crossing.

At 4:30 p.m., the city issued a temporary water restriction in the area to help crews repair the main break and prevent further water main failures in the area of Skyline Addition north of Riverview Drive, northwest of Avenue E, North View Addition and Eagles Crossing.

Residents in the affected area are asked to refrain from unnecessary water usage including:  irrigation, washing vehicles, cleaning sidewalks, etc., through July 26.

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The advisory is precautionary and city staff have restored pressure and are repairing the broken main, according to a city release.

Residents in the affected area who lost water service or water pressure in the early morning of July 23 should boil their water as a precaution for one week, according to the city.

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According to the city, those with “severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk” and should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.

General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

The city is collected bacteriological samples of the water and are monitoring the water system, according to city public works.

The city will provide updated on the water system.

The Electric followed up with additional questions about the break and the boil order.

That information is below.

The water main that broke was installed in 1960 on 32nd Avenue Northeast between 6th and 9th Streets. The cast iron pipe failed due to natural corrosion.

The line wasn’t scheduled for repair or replacement.

Public Works Director Chris Gaub told The Electric that according to city records, there hadn’t been any prior breaks on this section of the line and his department will evaluate the current break to determine whether it needs to be reprioritized within the departments capital improvement plan.

“Consuming or ingesting the water after the break is the reason for the boil water advisory. [Montana Department of Environmental Quality] advises residents who are going to ingest or consume the water to boil the water. Portable filters such as Britta or similar will provide protection, but not refrigerator filters. They are generally for sediment filtration only,” Gaub said.

Cascade County is closing the fill station on 36th Street until the boil order is over, Gaub said.

Customers will have to use an alternate location, such as a private fill station or Cascade County fill stations as follows:

• 1100 21st Ave. S.
• 1615 8th Ave. N.W.

The drop in pressure only affected the area with boil order, but not the system as a whole.

The water tower in that area lost pressure and the rest of the system maintained pressure so back-contamination wouldn’t occur, Gaub said.

The whole system is chlorinated and Gaub said public works is monitoring the affected area with testing as required by DEQ and results are good as of the evening of July 23.

The city is following DEQ’s protocol to issue the boil advisory and continue testing for seven days for chlorine.

Gaub said DEQ advised the city to issue the boil order within 24 hours and the city issued the advisory at 12:50 p.m.

DEQ instructed us to issue the boil water advisory within 24 hours.  We issued it at 12:50 PM, well within DEQ’s parameters.

Gaub said the advisory applies to water being consumed by humans and DEQ didn’t specify provisions for pets.

Gaub said the city plans to have the impacted water line back in service late July 23 and continue testing per DEQ guidelines until the advisory is lifted on July 30.