Do you take water for granted? We sure did until last Saturday night and Sunday. A water main broke about four blocks north of Charlestown on Maiden Choice Lane. Although the break was first called in at 5 p.m. on Saturday night, we didn’t lose water pressure until about 11 p.m. The repair didn’t start until 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.
Our water supply consisted of a PUR pitcher of water in the refrigerator and water in the Keurig coffee machine.
We set up our own no flush policy depending on the content. I knew we needed some water since we didn’t know how long we would be without water. So we headed out to the grocery store about 12:30 p.m. and bought six gallons of water. The first thing I did when I got home was to pour water into the toilet tank.
The Charlestown staff did yeoman work to make sure we know what was happening with the Alert Line that is a dedicated telephone number with recorded information and calls and texts using the Swift Reach cloud software.
The dining rooms were set up with hydration stations and dinner became a buffet with three entree choices instead of the normal menu. By afternoon, common area toilets were being flushed with water from the swimming pool.
Directors were on campus patrolling the campus apartment buildings to see how we were coping. One Associate Executive Director visited the site of water main break to get first-hand knowledge. We were delighted to get the all-clear message via text when the water started flowing at 4:30 p.m. I was so happy to push that toilet handle!
We reap the benefit of living in a community with the resources to make sure that we are safe and cared for in emergencies. We heard how the water outage was managed by the General Service department when they reported at their monthly town hall meeting this week. There were many staff that came in to help that we did not know about.
This was the first time we have had a water outage. We have had two power outages and snow events since we moved here. Charlestown has great emergency plans so we know we will be alright.