Failure in Otwock. City residents still without water. The Mayor of the City speaks
People from Otwock and nearby Karczew cannot yet use water. And most likely this situation will last a bit.
Let’s remind. On Tuesday, residents got a warning so as not to use water, because it is not suitable for consumption and sanitary goals. On Wednesday morning it was confirmed, its unusability even after boiling. A tap was turned throughout the city and a crisis staff was convened.
Poviat Sanitary and Epidemiological Station, State Fire Service and Police were informed. Then the next services were included in the help. The Mayor of the City applied to the Minister of National Defense to assign the support of Territorial Defense Forces. Firefighters from the TSO from the city, scouts and volunteers were also involved in help. Water barrels were set up all over the city to supply residents with water for washing, and a drinking water collection was created in front of the office.
– From the first hours of this action, all the services were placed on the feet. Our role is the best possible communication of all those who got involved in helping that this work is planned and that it causes greater efficiency, not greater disorganization. I think that at the moment we must be patient and wait for the next Sanepid messages. I would like to emphasize that only this information is reliable, so please only rely on official messages that will be directed to the media – says Jarosław Margielski, President of Otwock in an interview with « Fakt ».
They wash in bowls and receive drinking water from designated points
The situation in the city is really difficult, but the inhabitants are trying to deal with somehow. – It’s not easy, but we have to survive it. Such situations happen and we have no influence on them. Firefighters substituted a barrel here and for now we come here for washing water. We wash in bowls, as it was in the 1990s, but you have to deal with quality, because for now, we have no other choice. We go to the office for drinking water, because there is the whole pickup point. We hope that these problems will end quickly, because in the long run we can’t imagine it – they tell the reporter of « Fakt » city residents. However, they were not left alone. As they say, the city stood up to the challenge.
– At the moment we have 29 water distribution points for living purposes from barrels. This water can be consumed after preparation. In addition, three bottled water distribution points. When it comes to supplying water to the elderly and disabled people who have problems in movement, the telephone number of the City Hall is running. There you can report addresses. Employees of the City Hall, employees of uniformed services bring water to the indicated address. We have also launched a phone number for entrepreneurs, an email address to which they can submit a demand. In this way, we also want to ensure the continuity of deliveries for service providers. For production points, because we have here, among others Bakeries in the city, confectioneries and other production plants that need this water for food purposes. It is extremely important that we plan this logistics in such a way that there is water in the distribution points – says the city’s steward.
A gigantic failure in Otwock. The president explains the causes of the failure
The reporter of « Fakt » talked to the city president about the scale of the failure. As he informed, the reason was diagnosed, but the situation in the city is still difficult.
– We have the cause of the most diagnosed. This failure of the power main, which was repaired on Batory Street, caused this whole problem. A unsealing occurred during its emptying. Therefore, she had to be emptied. The transfer was a second, parallel alternative bus. A breakdown took place at the bus, which is over 50 years old. At that time, after the second failure, the bus was filled. As a result of the reaction with the air, there was oxidation. After re -filling, the sediment broke away from the walls of the cable that got into the water. And unfortunately the whole situation. Excessive sediment clogged all filters at the water treatment plant to such an extent that they ceased to perform their role and function. This situation also occurred in the second, new, alternative water supply, and the diagnosis was at night. Therefore, another decision could not be made, but cutting off the network and starting the rinsing of both power buses and filters. It lasted several hours – explains Margielski. And he calms down, claiming that this is not water contamination.
– We are dealing with pollution, an excessive amount of settlements of compounds that are in this water. This settlement is compounds of manganese and iron. At the time of detachment, they caused the amount of suspension in water, the number of these compounds increased many times. The color of the water was brown and absolutely did not allow its use. He clogged all the filters, so it got into the water. I calm down, this is not water contamination – adds the steward.
Studies and rinsing of the network are underway. When will the situation return to normal?
Currently, the technicians of the Water and Sewage Przedsiębiorstwo District conduct activities involving the rinsing of filters and the entire network. The tests are collected from the water treatment plant from points in six -hour cycles, so that the information reached at high frequency. There is also information on how water quality changes, how the trend line runs.
– This whole situation may take a few more days, because the research that is currently conducted is to give the answer first whether the water is fit for washing, i.e. for sanitary purposes, and then in the next few days, after a series of disinfection, the water will be taken, tested, whether it is fit for food purposes, whether we can drink this water. We estimate that the action of spending water in the most optimistic scenario will last until Friday, but it is, so to speak, the date to which we cannot get used to. Water tests that will be carried out can be repeated several times, and the cycle between the tests is three -day, so this date may be far away. For now, Sanepid is investigating water. On Tuesday we will know the first results – said the president.
A powerful failure near Warsaw. Two cities in a crisis situation
