After Boil Water Notice, DC Water Under Fire

It is once again safe to drink tap water in the nation’s capital after D.C. Water’s boil-water notice was lifted.

In the aftermath, critics are questioning how the organization handled the situation from a communications standpoint.

“Even as the boil-water order was lifted for most of the city, information from the water utility was scattered, confusing and, in some cases, delayed — stoking anger among residents who complained that officials botched the job of conveying something as vital as the safety of drinking water,” The Washington Post reported.

“Officials chose not to issue a wireless alert to cellphones or ‘reverse 911’ calls to landlines, as recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Instead, they sent a boil-water advisory shortly after 4 a.m. to the small fraction of the city’s population who voluntarily signed up for D.C. emergency alerts, and publicized the problem on social media and with news coverage,” The Post previously reported.

Another communications challenge arose when D.C. Water’s web page crashed during the incident. In addition, some residents requested a more detailed map of the affected area.

“The head of the D.C. Council’s Public Safety Committee says District residents should have been notified more quickly about possible water contamination during last week’s boil-water advisory,” WTOP reported.

Tommy Wells, chairman of D.C. Water’s board of directors, pledged a “deep review” of the issues. The Post reported that he conceded that communication was slow and confusing.

“Our customers need to know in real time exactly what is going on with their water,” Wells said, per the report.

Washington’s water issues began at a pumping station.

“A maintenance worker who failed to turn off a valve at a pumping station is probably to blame for plunging 100,000 District residents across a band of Northeast and Northwest Washington into emergency water restrictions, according to officials familiar with the investigation,” The Post reported.

The utility later reduced the boil-water notice to 20,000 residents.