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York County staff say software failure slowed notices after major water main break; boil-water advisory testing results expected next morning
Summary
County staff described a 24-inch main failure that disrupted service in Fort Mill and Tega Cay, acknowledged delays in public notification caused by notification software limits, and said DHEC testing results would be available mid-morning the next day; county posted utility contact number (803-628-3211).
York County officials told council that a large water main break Saturday evening affected parts of Fort Mill and Tega Cay and that limitations in the county's notification software caused significant delays in getting messages to residents.
Utilities staff described the failed pipe as a 24-inch main where long-term ground settlement and an apparent rock under the pipe likely caused a fracture. Staff said the main's interconnected, looped system and multiple pressure zones made it difficult to predict precisely which customers would lose pressure.
Regarding a boil-water advisory, county staff said the advisory is a recommendation based on South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) guidelines. "If you lost water pressure, if you got back...and you turned your faucet on, and you got a lot of air blowing out of there, you're under the boil water advisory," a utilities official said. Staff expected bacterial testing results back mid-morning the next day and said they would post updates on the county website and attempt additional notifications once results were available.
Council members and staff acknowledged shortcomings in communications during the outage. The county identified the notification software as unable to handle the high message volume (delays of up to three hours) and said it will pursue software and process improvements. Staff told residents to call the utilities main line for questions: (803) 628-3211 (operational hours 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.; on-call service after hours).
No formal motions specific to the outage were reported in the meeting. Council asked staff to improve communications and to post testing results and updates prominently on the county website.
