Tag: polar-vortex

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Boil Water Advisory Lifted

The area’s boil water advisory has been lifted.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) officials announced the lift in a Thursday afternoon news conference. MLGW president and CEO J.T. Young said the utility got the clearance to lift the order from state officials Thursday about an hour before the 3 p.m. news conference.

“The patient has been released from the hospital,” Young said, continuing a metaphor for MLGW’s water system he’s used all week. “The patient is doing well and is able to exist independently and doing very, very well.”

There are now no restrictions remaining on the normal use of drinking water supplied to all MLGW water customers. However, Young asked for customers to continue to conserve water until 10 a.m. Friday. This move is intended to, hopefully, get the system through what Young expects to be a peak in water usage after news of the lift is announced.

The boil water advisory went into effect last Friday. Freezing temperatures burst water mains. Hundreds of millions of gallons of water was leaked and lowered levels in area reservoirs.

MLGW officials feared the levels could bring contaminants into the water. However, Young said Thursday lab tests showed no contaminants were ever found in the city’s water.

Here are some details from MLGW:

What customers should do next?

• Turn on the main water valve if it has been closed.

• Flush any faucet a minimum of two minutes to ensure clearing of the line serving the faucet. Begin with the faucet that is highest up in your home or building and then open the other faucets one at a time, moving from the highest floor to the lowest.

• Discard any ice made during the boil water notice.

• Check water filters (in faucets, refrigerators, and elsewhere) and replace if necessary.

• Owners and managers of large buildings should ensure that their entire system is flushed and that storage tanks are drained and refilled.

If the water is discolored:

• Flush water pipes by running the water until it is clear.

• Do not wash clothes if the water is discolored. Wait until the water runs clear at the tap. Wash a load of dark clothes first.

If you have questions regarding this matter, you may contact MLGW’s water quality assurance lab at (901) 320-3950, or email waterlab@mlgw.org.

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MLGW: Water Situation Improving, No Timeline For End

The city’s water system situation is improving but there’s still no firm timeline for when the water boil advisory will end.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) issued a water boil advisory Friday as freezing temperatures broke water pipes and mains throughout its service area. Leaking water reduced water pressure across the system and officials worried it could allow contaminants to get into the water. However, it was a precautionary move, and MLGW officials said they had not found any contaminants in the the water.

But the system is now “continually moving in the right direction,” MLGW president and CEO J.T. Young said Monday afternoon. The system is still “in the red” but is on the cusp of “moving into a much better phase.”

Young said MLGW crews have repaired about 80 water mains and were working on a couple more Monday. However, he said the issue now may be property leaks happening in residences, “where customers may not yet have realized their water lines are gushing water.”

Nick Newman, MLGW’s vice president of engineering and operations, said water pressure has improved in South Memphis and in parts of East Memphis. However, water pressure remains low Downtown, in Midtown, and in areas on the edges of MLGW’s service area.

He said the situation with water pumping stations is that they’re “not out of the red. It was deep red and now it’s light red and moving to the yellow category.”

However, Newman said he could not predict when the situation would pass. However, he said MLGW would provide daily updates on it.

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MLGW Urges Customers to Prepare for Thawing Pipes

Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) said warmer temperatures can reveal leaks in pipes and urged customers to prepare.

Frozen pipes that have burst will thaw and reveal leaks, MLGW said in a Friday statement. To prepare, MLGW said customers are encouraged to drip water, open cabinet doors, and insulate pipes while temperatures remain low.

The utility suggested this article for tips on unfreezing pipes in the home. MLGW said to find the shut-off valves in homes and that it could be in a closet or under the sink. To shut off water outside the home, MLGW suggested using a meter key, which can be purchased at a hardware store.

MLGW considers burst pipes an emergency. Customers can call (901) 528-4465 to have water turned off. However, depending on demand, it could take some time for crews to respond.

Customers are also asked to continue conserving water by taking shorter showers, holding off on laundry, and not running the dishwasher until Monday at noon.

A boil water advisory remains in effect and MLGW leaders gave no firm timeline for its end. Read more here. 

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Memphis Under Boil Water Advisory

CREDIT: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Memphis Light, Gas and Water issued a water boil advisory Thursday, February 18th. Here’s their news release in full:

Due to recent water main breaks and freezing temperatures that have caused low water pressure in MLGW’s water system, Memphis Light, Gas and Water (PWS ID 0000450) has issued this advisory to notify water customers to boil their water prior to consumption (e.g., washing hands/face, brushing teeth, drinking).


This includes all MLGW water customers in Shelby County. Children, seniors, and persons with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to harmful bacteria and all customers should follow these directions.


To ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and ice making should be boiled and cooled prior to use for drinking water or human consumption purposes. The water should be brought to a vigorous rolling boil and then boiled for three minutes.


In lieu of boiling, individuals may purchase bottled water or obtain water from some other suitable source for drinking water or human consumption purposes.


When it is no longer necessary to boil the water, MLGW will notify customers that the water is safe for drinking water or human consumption purposes.


Once the boil water notice is no longer in effect, MLGW will issue a notice to customers that rescinds the boil water notice.


MLGW also reminds customers to continue to conserve water usage.


Please share this information with other MLGW water customers, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

Freezing temperatures broke “numerous” water mains, the utility said Wednesday. Water pressure was low across the water distribution system yesterday. Water levels were low in several pumping station reservoirs. For this, MLGW asked customers to report water running in a street as it is usually a sign of a water main break.

Water outages were so common in Memphis this week that MLGW officials had to fight a rumor that it was cutting off customers’ water. Gale Carson Jones, MLGW’s vice president of community and external affairs issued a statement on the matter Wednesday at 9:30 p.m.

Memphis Under Boil Water Advisory

The utility was still battling the rumor on Twitter Thursday after a string of tweets to concerned customers yesterday.  TVA/Facebook


What to do in a boil water advisory:

Here’s what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends for those under a boil water advisory:

If your local health authorities issue a boil water advisory, you should use bottled water or boil tap water because your community’s water is, or could be, contaminated with germs that can make you sick.

Advisories may include information about preparing food, beverages, or ice, dishwashing, and hygiene, such as brushing teeth and bathing.

Standard recommendations usually include this advice:

Use bottled or boiled water for drinking, and to prepare and cook food.

If bottled water is not available, bring water to a full rolling boil for 1 minute (at elevations above 6,500 feet, boil for 3 minutes), then allow it to cool before use.

Boil tap water even if it is filtered.

Do not use water from any appliance connected to your water line, such as ice and water from a refrigerator.

Breastfeeding is the best infant feeding option. If you formula feed your child, provide ready-to-use formula, if available.

Handwashing

In many situations, you can use tap water and soap to wash hands. Follow the guidance from your local public health officials.

Be sure to scrub your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and rinse them well under running water.

If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol.

Bathing and showering

Be careful not to swallow any water when bathing or showering.

Use caution when bathing babies and young children. Consider giving them a sponge bath to reduce the chance of them swallowing water.

Brushing teeth

Brush teeth with boiled or bottled water. Do not use untreated tap water.

Washing dishes

If possible, use disposable plates, cups, and utensils during a boil water advisory.

Household dishwashers generally are safe to use if the water reaches a final rinse temperature of at least 150 degrees Fahrenheit (65.55 degrees Celsius), or if the dishwater has a sanitizing cycle.

Sterilize all baby bottles.

To wash dishes by hand:

Wash and rinse the dishes as you normally would using hot water.

In a separate basin, add one teaspoon of unscented household liquid bleach for each gallon of warm water.

Soak the rinsed dishes in the water for at least one minute.

Let the dishes air dry completely before using again.

Laundry

It is safe to wash clothes as usual.

Cleaning

Use bottled water, boiled water, or water that has been disinfected with bleach to clean washable toys and surfaces.

Caring for pets

Pets can get sick by some of the same germs as people or spread germs to people.

Provide bottled or boiled water after it has been cooled for pets to use.

If bottled water is not available, bring water to a full rolling boil for 1 minute (at elevations above 6,500 feet, boil for three minutes), then allow it to cool before use.

Boil tap water even if it is filtered.

Do not use water from any appliance connected to your water line, such as ice and water from a refrigerator.

Caring for your garden and houseplants

You can use tap water for household plants and gardens.

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MEMernet: Snowplow Edition

CREDIT: Memphis International Airport/Instagram

Memphis International Airport/Instagram

Your up-North friends have made fun of you by now.

They ask, “where are your snowplows? We say, “we don’t have any.” It’s not even a laugh, really, it’s a guffaw. Then, we explain that we do have trucks with plows on them. They snort.

MEMernet: Snowplow Edition

Then, we explain that we never get snow like this and keeping snowplows around just isn’t a prudent way to spend precious tax money. Then, they look at us like the high school senior who spent his college money on a sports car.

Well, the collective “we” may not have snowplows but you can bet your bottom share of FedEx Corp. that Memphis International Airport has snowplows. Here’s one at work Thursday morning. (Watch this to the end for a satisfying thump of snow.)

MEMernet: Snowplow Edition (2)

Here’s the whole squad of airport snowplows at work Tuesday.
 

MEMernet: Snowplow Edition (3)

Wonder what it’s like driving one of those bad boys?

MEMernet: Snowplow Edition (4)

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Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Consumer Alert: Testing the Polar Vortex Beer Fridge

CREDIT: Toby Sells

Toby Sells

Voting has begun for the Memphis Flyer’s 2021 Beer Bracket Challenge. The city’s nine (nine!) breweries are squaring off once again in our 5th annual March-Madness-style competition. Let your voice be heard!

It’s hard to imagine now, but it’ll get so hot this summer that some reporter somewhere will fry an egg on a sidewalk or bake cookies on the dash of a parked car.

Such illustrations of heat border on cliche. They’ve been done to death because they work and, let’s admit it, they’re kind of fun.

But sidewalks and parked cars lack a real utility. Would you eat that egg? Would you leave cookies on the dash as a shortcut for dinner-time desserts? Sounds like domesticity done by Bear Grylls.

This stupid awful polar vortex is an extreme (and unprecedented) weather event in Memphis. It’s mucking things up from the interstate to the airport and it’s freezing and bursting pipes and causing falls and, well, the list goes on.

But this weather event has one up on extreme hot temperatures. It offers at least one utility. This polar vortex is a beer fridge.

I popped a few room-temperature cans out back a few nights ago. The temperature was 1 or 2, definitely in the single digits. That polar vortex cured those warm beers (and cured my warm-beer blues).

However, I was not in a beer-mergency. I had cold ones on deck — my outside boiz could take their sweet time. But then I thought, “what if this was a beer-mergency? What would Bear Grylls do?”

There are time-tested methods to quickly chill your oat soda cold, pulled-from-a-Rocky-Mountain-stream kinda cold. The towel wrapper in the freezer method works. Trust me. But I wanted to see how well Mama Nature did it.

Toby Sells

An instant-read thermometer told me it was 71 degrees in my house. The beer was 68 degrees. The temperature outside was 16 degrees.

After five minutes, the beer had cooled to 66 degrees. In another five, it had cooled to 54 degrees. Another five, it was down to 50 degrees.

This part got boring. I was busy. So, I waited another 10 minutes before checking again. It had only cooled to 49 degrees. But at least we were getting somewhere.

Not all beers have to be served teeth-busting cold. Most of them are not supposed to be served that cold. Bud Light (and those like it) should be served at around 38 degrees at the coldest, according to the Home Brewers Association (HBA).

The local IPA I was testing? The HBA says those should be served between 45 degrees-50 degrees. Another 10 minutes, the beer was down to 42 degrees, perfectly quaffable by the HBA guidelines.

So, the Polar Vortex Beer Fridge (patent pending) got the job done to standard in 35 minutes. The beer was plenty cold enough to enjoy it.

Serving temperatures all have to do with aroma and flavor. But I’m not snooty. I like a cold, cold beer. So, I let my beer cool even more. In another 10 minutes, the beer had cooled to 37 degrees and I could hear the Busch beer jingle: “Busch. Beer. Head for the mountains with, Busch. Beer.” I was headed to the mountains but with better beer.

The cold temperatures will definitely turn your warm ones cold. It’s not instant but it works. Hey, we gotta take vortex wins where we can get ’em, right?