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Champion fire chief advised schools to close because of bacteria in backup water line
By Ed Runyan
VIENNA
The Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Office on Monday afternoon lifted a boil alert it had issued for Champion and Bazetta townships Saturday.
The alert had been in effect because of a water-main break on Mahoning Avenue under the state Route 5 Bypass in Champion.
The Warren Water Department repaired the break later Saturday, but the sanitary engineer’s office had to conduct water sampling Sunday and wait for results from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District before it could say for sure the water was safe to drink, said Ron Watson, senior environmetal engineer for the sanitary engineer’s office.
Watson said the boil alert actually was not because of contamination resulting from the waterline break.
The reason was that because of the break, the county switched to a backup waterline to serve Champion Township and part of Bazetta Township. That line runs east from the water treatment plant in Bazetta Township along Johnson Plank Road.
But a section of the line sits idle, so using that line posed a bacteria risk. Boiling water was done to kill bacteria in water used for drinking, Watson said.
Champion Township Fire Chief John Hickey said he got phone calls from restaurants and told them to take the boil alert seriously, but he also got calls from school officials wanting to know whether school should be canceled.
Hickey had been in touch with county sanitary engineering employees and advised the school officials to cancel school Monday as a precautionary step.
“With the public perception of the water in Flint and in Ohio,” he felt it was the best decision, Hickey said.
Watson said Hickey and Scott Verner, assistant county sanitary engineer, discussed the school closing issue, and Verner agreed with Hickey that closing school Monday was the right decision.
Lakeview Elementary at the corner of Johnson Plank and Bazetta roads was closed Monday, as were the schools in Champion, the Trumbull Career and Technical Center in Champion and Kent State University at Trumbull in Champion.