Scituate, Massachusetts, officials have lifted a boil water order that had been in place since Friday afternoon. Residents had been warned that E. coli might be present in their town water and told that all water needed to be boiled or bottled until further notice.
The Town of Scituate issued the updated message that the water was safe on Sunday morning after getting approve from the Department of Environmental Protection.
"Residents and businesses can resume normal water use," the town said. "DEP has lifted the ban. Thank you for your cooperation."
A day earlier, people in Scituate were told not to drink the water in a message spread across the town. A water sample collected on Tuesday tested positive for E. coli. A second sample was taken and that one came back positive for a different bacterium Friday. So from Friday to Sunday, a boil water order was in effect.
Water had to be boiled for at least one minute to be considered safe. Many opted for bottled water.
"We had to go all the way to Quincy, so that's three or four supermarkets away to find water. And the lines were Thanksgiving level lines," one resident said.
"I contacted one of our other managers to grab soda, water, sparkling water, bottles of water all of that," Mill Wharf general manager Nicholas Leeping told WBZ-TV.
Leeping and his staff at waterfront restaurant Mill Wharf were doing their best to make sure customers were still served.
"It was a lot of chaos trying to figure out what was going on, how to put together a game plan to stay open," Leeping said. "Tell all of our staff that they can't use anything from the soda gun, can't use anything from our ice machine and obviously the tap water."
And it wasn't just a regular dinner rush the staff had to accommodate. The restaurant also hosted a rehearsal dinner for a wedding.
"This was pretty shocking especially middle of the shift, middle of the day, we had a rehearsal dinner upstairs that we had to set up for. All of our ice, all our water was set up. Obviously, we had to dump all of that," Leeping explained.
Scituate town officials flushed hydrants and performed repeat water sample tests.
The town gave out free cases of water in the parking lot of Cole Parkway on Saturday. Residents were allowed to take two cases per household.
