Boil advisory remains in effect for much of West Side; EWSU plans analysis

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — For now, the Evansville Water & Sewer Utility is going with the idea that two major West Side water main breaks within 11 days of one another is a coincidence.

After all, water line breaks happen in the utility's coverage area all the time. This year, to date, there have been 248 of them.

But the two recent breaks this month were significant enough to put much of Evansville's West Side, as well as the University of Southern Indiana and other spots outside the city limits, on a boil advisory which remains in effect.

EWSU officials said they are doing some analysis on the West Side to see if anything is happening in the infrastructure to cause large-scale breaks in the same general area in a tight timeframe.

Upper Mount Vernon Road is closed from Tekoppel Avenue to North Woods Avenue while EWSU makes repairs.

"It's like forensics work a little bit," said Mike Labitzke, deputy director of program management with EWSU. " ... It does feel very coincidental."

An Oct. 9 break in the 100 block of North Red Bank Road impacted a large swath extending west from St. Joseph Avenue to the county line and north from the Ohio River to Mill Road.

An Oct. 20 break on Upper Mount Vernon Road put much of the same area on a boil advisory.

EWSU customer water rate increases are funding multiple water line replacement and rehabilitation projects. One of them is coming to Upper Mount Vernon Road in about 18 months. 

"The Upper Mount Vernon line has a lot of history (of breaks)," Labitzke said. "It's broken eight times in the last five years. It's on our list to be replaced."

There also are water main replacements coming to South Red Bank Road and Broadway. Although the Broadway line has not broken recently, it is higher in the EWSU pecking order than those on Red Bank and Upper Mount Vernon.

Work on the Broadway project will begin by the end of this month, with completion expected in summer 2020. First Avenue will also see a line replacement project next year.

During a boil advisory, customers are asked to bring water to a complete boil for five minutes before drinking it or using it to cook. Such advisories usually are in effect for 48 hours or so, but if it's a large line, the repair process can take longer.

Once completed, EWSU officials say the replacement and rehabilitation projects will mean fewer breaks and fewer of those nuisance boil advisories, though that might be of little comfort to many West Siders at the moment.

Labitzke said the projects will bring "higher resiliency, higher reliability of the water system."

To keep up with Evansville Water & Sewer Utility boil advisories in effect, visit the EWSU website.

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