Austintown, Canfileld businesses, schools scramble to provide potable water

Cooskey Cullingan Water Conditioning of Youngstown was receiving a higher volume of calls than normal on Monday, mostly from restaurants trying to secure clean water for their lunchtime customers.

Bo Cooskey, fourth-generation owner, said his company provides water in five gallon containers to restaurants to cook and to serve. The need could be anywhere from 10 to 20 of those containers a day, he said.

At The Upstairs in Austintown, Gina Chance-Kirlic, a sous chef, said employees purchased 12 gallons of water and bagged ice from a local grocery store. That would be enough to make it through the lunchtime rush, but management would reassess the need depending on the day’s business.

At Cocca’s Pizza in Canfield, store manager Mike Sturgeon learned about the boil notice on his way in to prepare for the restaurant’s 11 a.m. opening. He said Cocca’s has a stock of bottled water from employees pooling their in-house tip money, and workers would boil water as needed to wash their pans.

If a restaurant cannot supply safe water, the Mahoning County District Board of Health is recommending that it close until the boil advisory is lifted.

Austintown schools remained open Monday. Vincent Colaluca, superintendent, called parents to notify them of this situation this morning.

The district needed 6,000 bottles of water to make it through the day, he said. Sam’s Club in Boardman donated two pallets of waters, and the district paid for an additional two.

All water fountains were covered, and the cafeteria workers began boiling water. Other than that, the schools were operating normally, he said.