Camp Meeker boil-water order could end Wednesday

<p>Camp Meeker water managers hope to lift a boil-water notice Wednesday after repairing a broken transmission line that spilled more than 200,000 gallons of drinking water into nearby Dutch Bill Creek.</p><p>The high-pressure line broke around 4:40 a.m. Monday next to a water treatment facility across the road from the Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds. The transmission line runs along Bohemian Highway, connecting a well on the Russian River with storage tanks that serve both Camp Meeker and Occidental.</p><p>The water line, which went dry, was repaired by Tuesday morning after workers used a jackhammer to break up an 18-inch concrete slab covering the pipe, then dug a trench 5 feet deep to reach it.</p><p> The boil-water notice, which affects about 150 of the 360 homes on the Camp Meeker system, is a precautionary measure required by the county Department of Health, water officials said. Whenever a water line goes dry, it can create a vacuum that could suck sediment in at joint gaskets.</p><p>Tests of clean water flowing through the pipe are required for two consecutive days before the boil-water notice can be removed.</p><p>“It’s our main supply, in fact, it’s our only supply,” said Hal Wood, president of Russian River Utility. The Occidental and Camp Meeker systems are two of 15 that the company manages around the region. The water line belongs to the Camp Meeker Park and Recreation District.</p><p>The mishap caused water in Camp Meeker’s storage tanks to drain back down the hill and flow from the ruptured pipe, eventually reaching the creek.</p><p>Wood estimated about 20 Camp Meeker customers lost pressure Monday morning, but the water was soon contained and pressure restored. Occidental residents were unaffected.</p><p>Camp Meeker resident Shelley Mueller said she didn’t receive the notice until Tuesday.</p><p>“I would have liked a notice yesterday because we were drinking the water,” she said.</p><p>Wood said he called in a staff member who distributed the notices to more than half the residents Monday and the rest Tuesday morning.</p><p>“The success is going to be if we get the boil-water notice off Wednesday afternoon,” said Jamie Dunton, a field supervisor for the utility.</p><p>Since the water is treated with chlorine, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state Fish and Game are monitoring the effect on Dutch Bill Creek. But Wood said tests showed the water contained a minimal amount of chlorine, about a tenth of a part per million.</p>