Weirton Water Service Outage Could Last A Week
WEIRTON, W. Va. (KDKA) -- Officials in Weirton, W. Va., say it may be a week before water pressure returns to normal.
Weirton is in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, about 40 miles west of Pittsburgh with a population of 22,000.
Authorities declared a state of emergency after a major failure of the water transmission system at the Weirton Area Water Board Treatment Plant.
A mandatory boil water and water conservation order has been issued for people who have low water pressure.
Multiple transmission line failures occurred at the water plant where they've been trying to make repairs all week.
Efforts have been unsuccessful.
At a news conference, officials said that even if repairs are successful, it may take up to seven days for water service to return to normal.
"We don't anticipate returning to any semblance of normal operation for at least 72 hours and that's in the best case scenario," Weirton Utilities Director Butch Mastrantoni said.
"More reasonably, we're looking five to seven days before we can stabilize the system in such a fashion that we can begin to approximate what our normal operation standards were.
"This is a major, major water failure situation at our plant and it will take some time to adjust."
The health department has ordered all restaurants serviced by the water authority to close until water service is restored.
Water buffaloes have been set up around town to help residents.
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