Boil order issued for Kingston, could last for days, village president says

KINGSTON – The village of Kingston is under a boil order that could last until Friday, officials said Wednesday morning.

Village President John Lynch said low pressure in the village’s water system discovered Tuesday night prompted the boil order, which instructs residents to boil their tap water for several minutes before drinking or consuming it.

“We’ve got everything stabilized as far as pressures now – we don’t have a problem with that – but the pressure got low enough that we had to do a boil order,” Lynch said. “We called to the [Environmental Protection Agency] and talked to them, and they requested that we do a boil order, so that’s what we’re doing right now.”

The boil order was put out about 10 p.m. Tuesday and remained in effect for the village of Kingston as of Wednesday morning.

Kingston Police Chief Gerald Taft said he helped share the order notice on the police department’s Facebook page.

Water intended for consumption in Kingston should be boiled first, but it’s safe for residents to shower or bathe in, Lynch said.

Although officials initially feared a broken water main, the culprit behind the low water pressure was an obscure part on public works equipment, the village president said. Officials were able to temporarily repair it while they wait for a replacement part to arrive, so Lynch said he’s hopeful the boil order won’t be a long-lasting ordeal.

On Wednesday morning, the head of the Kingston Public Works Department, Justin Kamp, collected water samples for testing.

“We’ll have to send those samples in to get them tested, and once we get the clearance from the EPA – as far as the samples, make sure they’re OK – then we can lift the boil order,” Lynch said. “I would say its going to be a minimum 24 [hours before the boil order is lifted], and I’m hoping it’s no more than 48. It kind of depends on these samples we send first – if they’re not right, then we’ve got to wait or do another set of sampling, from what I understand.”

Lynch wrote in a Facebook comment that signs notifying residents about the boil order will be posted around the village.

After one of the most chaotic nights in his village government career – Lynch has been the village president for the past four years and on the Village Board since 2009 – he said the situation did not turn out to be as critical as first believed.

“Things always could have been much worse,” Lynch said. “I was very proud of our public works director, Justin [Kamp]. He handled the situation very well, and Joe Hengles, another trustee, was there helping also.”

Matt Cascio, interim superintendent for Genoa-Kingston School District 424, said Kingston Elementary is the only school in his district affected by the boil notice.

“We made it so that our drinking fountains aren’t available for student and staff use, and that we’ve brought in for when it’s needed by students and staff until this has been lifted,” Cascio said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Kingston residents – particularly those in the Windhaven subdivision – could experience low water pressure as Kingston officials execute repairs to the village’s well house pump, according to an additional facebook post from the village Wednesday morning.

“I apologize to everybody for this problem, but we’ve got a lot of old equipment that we’re in the process of updating, and this is something we just didn’t see coming,” Lynch said. “It’s something that you wouldn’t think would have failed, but it did.”