Village Trustee Bob Pear has been Woodstock’s go-to person for information from Woodstock Aqueduct, the private company that supplies and takes care of our drinking water. He has been in touch with Eric Wegner who has been “on-the-ground” and “in-the-field” since Tropical Storm Irene caused flooding to our area and breaks in our water lines. This is our first report in ten days about the quality of drinking water that has been restored to taps:
Good news to put peoples’ minds at ease. Eric Wegner just called me to let me know that the test results are back from the lab from yesterdays samples and all locations tested negative for coliform bacteria. The four sampling locations were Gillingham’s, Probate Court House, (Sheriff’s Office at East End), Woodstock Elementary School and Woodstock High School.
The boil order is still in effect by the State because the firehose is not an approved method of transmission, but Eric is working with the State to get that lifted, primarily to help the restaurants and inns/ motels get back to normal as it has been very difficult for them to boil the larger quantities of water they require.
So there is no doubt that the water is safe to do the laundry and take your showers, but still boil before drinking and still conserve!
Conservation is still important to ensure we have the resources if we have a fire or if the system has to be shut down during the upcoming repair stages.
Early Bird adds: Ruh-roh. Did he say shut down the water for upcoming repairs? Sigh. Okay. We’ll all deal, right?
Julia Carlisle
Woodstock Early Bird 
Posted by Bob Pear on September 7, 2011 at 18:39
Thank You Julia for getting the info out there. You make my newfound job so much easier!
The Water Boy
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Posted by Julia Carlisle on September 7, 2011 at 18:44
Very funny! Glad you’re retaining your sense of humor about your new-found position!
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Posted by Toni Richie on September 7, 2011 at 19:21
Once the boil-order is lifted, should people continue to boil to ensure that any residual bacteria in their respective interior water pipes have passed through? Or, should they just run their water for several minutes in order to clean out their lines? Is it likely that bacteria could still lurk in their household pipes?
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Posted by Bob Pear on September 7, 2011 at 20:16
Toni, I am sure the chlorine in the water system would kill any bacteria if it were residual in your pipes. If you are really worried about it, you can order a test kit from a company in Perkinsville, VT and get the results back in a couple of days. The test is $25 including the sampling kit to take the sample and I believe you would be testing for total coliform, (and no, I do not have any stock in that company). If you decide to drive down there to pick up the kit, please check your route before you leave.
Info is:
http://www.aquacheck-vt.com/service.htm
Aquacheck Laboratory, Inc. 7290 Rte 131 PO Box 87 Perkinsville, VT 05151 PHONE:(802) 263-9595 FAX:(802) 263-9588
The state can also provide this and it is less expensive, but it will take more than a couple of days and who knows how long with the disaster.
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Posted by Bob Pear on September 7, 2011 at 19:22
Wouldn’t have made it through without a sense of humor, especially everyone else’s sense of humor. Sometimes the humor is a little dry in Vermont, but then again, we were trying to dry out from the storm. Thanks for everyone’s help with that. Everything matters, everything helps.
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Posted by Dianne on September 7, 2011 at 19:23
yay!
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Posted by Bob Pear on September 7, 2011 at 20:48
My leap of faith- I turned my automatic icemaker back on! Don’t worry, it doesn’t require much water and I have already planned on eliminating one flush and 12 seconds of shower time from my sailor’s shower tomorrow.
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