Precautionary boil water notice lifted in East Naples

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Update: The boil water notice was lifted at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

A water main break near City Gate has led to a boil water notice across East Naples.

“I went in to make salad and get dinner ready while he was out here getting the BBQ going, and there was no water,” said Valerie Deschamps.

Valerie and Len Schmidt live in the Falling Waters neighborhood and quickly knew something was wrong.

“We knew there was a problem. And then we start going around the whole area to see how far, how widespread it was, and we found out it was outside our community,” Schmidt said. “Then we knew there had to be something big going on.”

The county said that because the water pressure dropped below 20 PSI after the break, a precautionary boil water notice was issued for nine schools, dozens of businesses and thousands of homes.

Crews repaired the break, but Len said he waited to hear from the county.

“I’m surprised it took them that long to really get back to everybody, to let them know there was a problem, but you know, things happen,” he added.

Valerie said they tried to get answers.

“Our next-door neighbor came out, then the one down the way came down, everybody came down, because I’m on the board. So, then we made some phone calls,” she said. “I called the management company. They tried to get a hold of Collier County, but they couldn’t get through, she said, because I guess everybody was calling. So, we just made the best of it.”

The Collier County Water Division says water used for drinking, making ice, cooking, brushing teeth, or washing dishes should be boiled for one minute while the county waits for test results.

“I just hope they find out what the root cause is, and hopefully it won’t happen again,” Deschamps added.

WINK News asked the county what exactly happened and how, but all they said was a 24-inch water pipe burst. They say about 30,000 customers are impacted by the boil water notice in place, but they’re waiting on test results before lifting it.

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