PAMPLICO — Pamplico residents are under a boil water advisory following a vehicle crash into a fire hydrant Wednesday morning that ruptured an 8-inch water line.
As a result, Hannah-Pamplico Elementary/Middle and High schools closed early because of the water problem on the advice of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, Florence School District 2 Superintendent Robert E. Sullivan Jr. said.
The elementary school dismissed at 12:30 p.m.; the high school, at 12:40 p.m. he said.
“We feel that the drinking water system serving the town has not become contaminated, but to be safe, you are advised to boil your drinking and cooking water,” Pamplico Mayor Gene Gainey wrote in a town press release.
“We tried to isolate the leak but weren’t able to, so we made the decision to shut the whole town down at about 10:30 a.m. and then we notified DHEC,” Gainey said.
Jimmy Owens, DHEC’s Region 4 director of environmental quality control, said the water line was repaired by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
As a precaution, DHEC is keeping the boil water advisory in effect until Thursday until the water can be tested for safety. Residents and business owners alike should boil their drinking water for one full minute before using it, or use bottled water in the meantime, Owens said.
Ice made from non-boiled water after 10:30 a.m. should not be used for drinking purposes.
Sybil Locklair, co-owner and operator of Lock’s Red Barn in Pamplico, said a DHEC official told her about the water problem at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday.
“It’s been a madhouse because the water went off and then we’re just probably going to have to close cause we can’t have any water,” she said. “School is letting out early and it’s just presenting a big problem for us.”
Locklair estimated she’d lose $400 to $500 in lunch and afternoon customers Wednesday.
She also said that although this has happened before, it’s never taken this long to resolve.
“Usually it lasts a couple of hours and we can deal with that,” she said.
Gainey said once the system is back online, it would take about three to four hours to fill the town water tank and restore pressure. He estimates about 2,400 people were affected by the water outage.
“Right now we feel like every area is safe except for the immediate area where the break happened and we’re handling that at DHEC’s advice,” he said.
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