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Home > Blogs > Hamilton News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > April > 03
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Reverse 911
Several Hamilton residents have commented to me since the city’s water boil advisory began that the city needs an automated call system to reach people who don’t routinely watch/read the news media.
Not surprisingly, Hamilton City Manager Mark Brandenburger said that the city does have an automated reverse 911 call system, but opted not to use it for the precautionary advisory.
Why didn’t the city alert residents to the boil advisory with this system? Well, Brandenburger estimates that to reach more than 25,000 water customers through 20 phone lines with a minute-long recorded message it would take upward of 33 hours.
Yes, 33 hours.
“That system would not be very time effective and you’d be waking people up all over town,” Brandenburger said.
He said the city is looking at other options such as allowing utility customers to sign up for volunteer text or email alerts. Though, the efficiency of those methods is questionable as well. Claire Wagner, spokeswoman for Miami University, said only 5,800 of the potential 26,000 students, staff and faculty have signed up for its text alert system since it debuted over the summer.
So, there is no great method, but the city will investigate upgrades, Brandenburger said. For now, he said the city’s alert methods of going through the media were within the boundaries of the law and the same as those utilized by Duke Energy.
“We are not going to send sound trucks up and down the neighborhoods,” Brandenburger said. “That’s just totally inefficient.”
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Most of Hamilton can now drink from the tap
Most of Hamilton drank a victory glass of tap water after the city lifted its boil water advisory. However, for 20 homes just south of Miami University Hamilton, the advisory continues.
Gas and Water Director Jim Collins believes that the sample from that area might have been contaminated. The city tested water in more than 70 areas of the city and this was the only positive sample. Without knowing how the pipes are laid, a car would have to drive more than four miles to get from the site of the water main break to the area that’s still under advisory.
Collins said the city has already taken additional samples from the area and has no plans for decontaminate the pipes in the area just yet. He said the city tests there often and results always come out clean. He believes that the samples will give an all clear to the area today.
Still some residents yesterday expressed frustration with the lack of information available. Hamilton resident Nicole Hatten expressed concern the boil water advisory left too many unanswered questions. She wanted to know if it was safe to wash her hands, if water purification systems were effective and if created problems when she was doing her laundry.
Resident Michelle Buchanan also expressed similar concerns and thought the city needed another message to get out the word besides the media.
“Most people I had talked to yesterday weren’t even aware of it,” she said.
We’ll let you know today if the city lifts the advisory for the entire city.
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