Springfield lifts boil water advisory as repairs continue after winter storms
This story was updated at 10:40 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 20.
The Springfield Utility Board has lifted its boil water advisory due to impacts from the winter storm.
SUB had lifted its advisory for west Springfield Friday morning and east Springfield Friday evening.
At least 3,500 customers remained without power as of Friday morning, and things could stay that way for many because of damage to the electrical infrastructure of individual homes, officials said.
"Our system was deeply impacted, much more severely than we anticipated," Jeff Nelson, SUB General Manager said at a morning press conference at the utility's water service center.
Sanjeev King, Director of Electrical Engineering & Operations, told reporters SUB had reduced outages to approximately 3,500 Springfield customers as of Friday morning and that much of the higher-level infrastructure would be back online by the end of the day.
"By the end of the day, we expect to have nearly all of these feeders energized," King said. "I would describe the restoration in full swing."
Other problems could take some time to solve, though. King described the downed power line at the intersection of 42nd and Olympic Streets as one area that would take longer because of larger-scale damage. In addition, the storm damaged transformers and service lines at many individual homes, and those homeowners and renters will have to find electricians to repair them.
"That will take more time before they'll be able to be reconnected to our system," King said. "And the goal there is safety. It's really important that those facilities are put together properly so that when we heat up homes, they're able to have electricity and be safe."
The Oregon Health Authority told SUB they were clear to lift the boil water advisory for west Springfield this morning, but for the east Springfield system (east of the railroad lines near 28th Street and south of OR-126), they are waiting on additional testing from OHA.
SUB announced it would distribute free bottles of water at 2 p.m. Friday at three east Springfield locations:
Thurston Elementary School, 7345 Thurston Rd, Springfield, OR 97478
Thurston High School, 333 58th St, Springfield, OR 97478, South parking lot
Les Schwab Sports Park, 400 S 32nd St, Springfield, OR 97478. (Take the second entrance directly to Les Schwab Sports park entrance on 32nd St.)
Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached over email at atorres@registerguard.com or on X @alanfryetorres.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Springfield boil water advisory lifted, issues remain
