Water advisories trending down
Sep. 29—Five boil water advisories were issued over a 13-day period starting on Sept. 13 in the Golden Isles, but the number of instances overall is trending downward, a spokesman for the utility says.
Jay Sellers, public information officer for the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water & Sewer Commission, said changes in a state law that allow more repairs without lowering the water pressure have helped reduce the number of times advisories have to be issued.
Steady line pressure and a little chlorine help keep the water safe from bacteria. But when the pressure drops below 20 pounds per square inch, bacteria can form.
The boil water advisories are issued out of caution.
"To date, there have not been any samples that have been found to contain the bacterial growth that would require us to alert the public," Sellers said. "If a sample is found to have bacterial growth, we're standing by to send out an emergency notification using our opt in service citizens can subscribe to at our website, and we also have the ability to send out a notice using the CodeRED system utilized by Glynn County EMA for a much broader reach."
A little more than half of the problems result from material failure, followed by contractors damaging the lines.
Contractors were responsible for advisories Sept. 18 at the Yacht Club, Kings Point and the Island Club, and on Sept. 13 at the Island Club and Ashantilly, causing the pressure to drop to unsafe levels.
Contractors are charged for the repairs on lines they damage, Sellers said.
Despite most of the recent problems being on St. Simons Island, Sellers said there is no area in the Golden Isles more prone to having problems than others.
"While we do have a schedule for repairs based on the trends we see in our CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) that prioritizes upgrades based on available budget and consequences of failure, there's no one district that is more prone to problems than others," Sellers said.
"Our maintenance and repair schedule is well balanced across the mainland district, the south mainland district and the island district."
