People and businesses in Morro Bay were stocked up on bottled water after a boil water advisory was issued on Monday.
Bobby Cleath, the manager at the Rhapsody In View boutique hotel, said they’ve been using boiled water for their cleaning and handwashing as well as giving their guests pre-prepared food.
He said that after receiving notice of the boil water advisory, he acted quickly by going to Spencer’s Market for cases of bottled water.
“The health department came by and let us know and gave us a notice and paperwork letting us know what steps to take that would be necessary and I think that was great. The city and the health department have been really on it and it’s been really, really helpful,” Cleath said.
He added that it is not their busiest season right now.
On the other hand, Morro Bay High School is filled with students, which is why the front office is stocked with cases of water provided by the City of Morro Bay.
“And they basically asked us for anything we need and we said we’re probably gonna need some bottled water and they said how much? And sure enough, a lot of cases of water were on our front doorstep this morning when we got here, so they’ve been really outstanding about it,” said Scott Schalde, Morro Bay High School Principal.
Schalde says they’ve taken additional steps across campus to keep students safe.
“We took precautions to basically cover every single drinking fountain on campus, alerted our parents and community last night through our Parent Square messaging app," he said.
City officials say a contractor broke an 8-inch water line by the old concrete plant off of Atascadero Rd., causing a loss of water pressure and prompting the precautionary boil water notice.
"Staff here in utilities, along with the help of some of our maintenance staff in public works and police and fire, we helped go out and basically walk those neighborhoods and drop a flyer off at every single house that we could,” said Damaris Hanson, City of Morro Bay Utilities Division Manager.
This map shows the area affected by the boil water notice in red. City officials said people living in this area can still shower, but don't drink the water for now.
"The Division of Drinking Water requires us to take two bacti tests, so we took one yesterday. We should have those results very soon, and then we took another one today,” Hanson said.
The first test came back clean but the notice won’t be lifted until they receive the results of the second test, which is expected to be sometime on Wednesday.
For the latest updates, visit the city's website.
