Boil Order Excludes Cambridge

The City of Cambridge—and Harvard University facilities in the city—remain unaffected by a major water main leak that took place Saturday in Weston, Mass. and has left an estimated two million Boston area residents without potable tap water.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) issued a “boil-water” order Saturday, recommending residents of the affected communities boil water for at least one minute before using it for purposes such as drinking, cooking, and brushing their teeth.

Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick ’78  declared a “state of emergency to facilitate the state response to MWRA Water Main Break” in a press release put out by his office Saturday evening.

Although the water main break had been stopped as of Saturday night, the order remains in effect for 30 communities, including neighboring Boston and Somerville.

Cambridge is not affected, as it draws a separate water supply from the Fresh Pond Reservoir, which is municipally operated and owned by the Cambridge Water Department. Since the Cambridge Water Department provides Harvard’s water supply, the campus is not under the “boil-water” order.

According to Ria Convery, MWRA’s communications director, MWRA is in the process of repairing the pipe, which will include welding the coupling between the two pipe sections and water pressure testing.

Subsequently, MWRA will be disinfecting the system and collecting water samples for testing. Convery said that MWRA is “cautiously optimistic” about the situation, which she said will hopefully be resolved by this Wednesday or Thursday.

MWRA is currently delivering water from the emergency back-up reservoir system to the affected households. That water has not been treated for drinking and is thus unsafe for human consumption, although it is suitable for bathing, flushing, and fire prevention.

Residents without treated water have been rushing to stores in search of bottled water, the Boston Globe reported.

MWRA representatives said that the leak began between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Saturday morning, when a 120-inch diameter pipe transporting water to communities east of Weston started to break.

The leak was dumping water into the Charles River at a rate of over eight million gallons per hour.

A list of communities under the ‘boil-water’ order and regular updates about the pipe leak may be found on the MWRA website.

­­—Staff writer Joanne S. Wong can be reached at joannewong@college.harvard.edu.