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Canton working to restore water to residents

Many residents in Canton and Clyde were without water overnight as a result of an 8-inch waterline break yesterday and a high demand due to the winter storm.

About 400,000 gallons of water were lost Thursday when the water main broke, which has caused about 40 Canton residents to be without water. Since Clyde ties into the Canton system, some Clyde residents at higher elevations experienced outages as well. 

Canton asked residents to conserve water and wait it out as the town worked to get the break fixed yesterday and waited for the reservoir to fill back up. The Clyde tank is back up to 12 feet — up from 4 feet yesterday evening. Water is restored to their residents who were effected.

As of Friday morning, Town Manager Seth Hendler-Voss said things were looking much better.  

“The Spruce Street reservoir is back up nearly 9 feet. We continue to gain by the hour. This is very good news,” Hendler-Voss said. “Spruce Street reservoir is typically the last to fill and typically does not fill until demand in other areas has been satisfied.”  

He said town staff has made contact with the most affected residents again and water has returned to many of them. Crews continue to clear the roads and accident reports are down. 

Periods of low or no pressure in the distribution system increases the potential for back siphonage and introduction of bacteria into the water system. Therefore, the Division of Water Resources advises that when water is restored consumers boil all water used for human consumption (including drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and food preparation) or use bottled water. 

Vigorous boiling for one minute should kill any disease-causing organisms that may be present in the water. This advisory remains in effect until further written notification is issued.

If you experience an outage or are in need of bottled water, call the town at 828.648.2363 or 828.648.2376.

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