City of Monroe system-wide boil-water notice prompted county response; environmental health issued temporary permit suspensions

Tracy Collie, Union County public-health director, briefed the meeting on the city of Monroe’s system-wide boil-water notice and the county’s response.

Collie said the county was notified by the North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the state public-health agency on the morning of Aug. 13 that Monroe had an initial boil-water advisory; an advisory becomes a notice when confirmation sampling finds contamination. At 9:41 p.m. the county received a confirmation sample showing total coliform and the notice was elevated to a system-wide boil-water notice that required immediate suspension of regulated operations involving water use until the notice was lifted.

Collie said county environmental-health and public-health teams notified licensing agencies, schools, childcare facilities, restaurants, nursing homes and other regulated establishments — a universe of 496 facilities within the City of Monroe’s service area — and coordinated with state and municipal partners. The department issued blanket permit-suspension notifications for permitted facilities while contamination remained confirmed.

She said the city worked with DEQ to demonstrate zone isolation (a check valve/backflow prevention) that kept the eastern zone separate from the western zone; after DEQ and the city provided evidence, environmental health lifted the suspension for the eastern zone and later lifted the final suspensions when the western zone was addressed. Collie described extensive interagency coordination, outreach through public communications and on-the-ground visits to facilities that had not received notice by email or phone early in the response.

Collie said the county’s priorities were to ensure public safety, target communications to affected regulated entities and confirm the city had addressed system vulnerabilities before permitting operations to resume. She said the city was the primary actor responsible for notifying customers, but the county filled gaps to ensure facilities that open early or serve vulnerable populations were informed and protected.