Water main break impacts 500 customers
Last week, a water main break within the Great Basin Water Co. system left hundreds of its customers without water, leading to the closure of area businesses, health care facilities and government buildings across a large portion of the main part of town.
“Early this morning, Great Basin Water Co. employees and contractors responded to a 16-inch water main break located on Winery Road,” the utility notified the community on Wednesday, April 15. “The team worked quickly as possible, following all safety procedures, to isolate the break.
“In order to make repairs, the team needed to temporarily interrupt service to about 500 customers located along the east side of Highway 160, from the Homestead/Winery Road/Highway 160 intersection and up to the Home Depot, which is just past the intersection of Basin Avenue and Highway 160,” the announcement continued. “Several businesses are included in the outage area, including medical facilities, eateries, casinos and a hotel.”
Many community members with appointments received calls from the effected medical facilities - including Intermountain Health, Spring Mountain Medical and others - Wednesday morning, requiring them to reschedule. In addition, those with county business to transact or court appointments to attend were also unable to complete those tasks, with the county announcing a full closure of the affected buildings Wednesday morning.
“A major leak in the Great Basin Water Co. system has caused a full water outage at all government facilities along Basin Avenue. Current estimates show that water services will not be restored for several hours,” the county explained in a social media post.
With no water service available, the county was required to shut down several of its government offices and facilities, including the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, Assessor’s Office, Recorder’s Office, Treasurer’s Office, Nye County Animal Shelter, Information Technology, Dept. of Emergency Management and all of the offices and courts located in the Ian Deutch Government Complex.
The restoration of water service came several hours later and the county was able to reopen its offices by the following day. But that did not mean it was back to business as usual for everyone. A notice was quickly issued by Great Basin Water Co., advising customers to boil their water before consuming, which further impacted residents, as well as those businesses and medical providers that rely on water to conduct their daily business.
“During this time, any water to be used for consumption by these customers should be brought to a rolling boil for three minutes, prior to cooling and consuming. During a precautionary boil water advisory, water samples are taken as required and tested to confirm drinking water continues to meet water quality standards.”
Though the water boil notice was expected to be in place until sometime early this week, Great Basin Water Co. was able to lift the precaution as of Saturday, April 18, explaining for customers, “It is no longer necessary for customers to boil water before drinking, cooking, washing dishes or food preparation.”
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
