Silver Bay’s water emergency has been lifted

Silver Bay’s water emergency caused by multiple water main breaks across city limits

Local news, sports, weather presented by the WDIO News Team

According to Lake County officials, the Boil Water Notice has been lifted for Silver Bay as the city has returned to normal operations as of Tuesday at 5PM. Notices have been sent to residents in the school and Banks Boulevard neighborhood.

On Sunday morning, a temporary water emergency was placed in effect for the city of Silver Bay. The initial cause for the water emergency came from two water main breaks within the city, one on Edison Blvd and the other Banks Blvd.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever know, but it’s a combination of probably the weather. We had that cold snap, and then when it warms up, it drives the frost a little deeper into the ground, and it could be old bolts. It could be, you know, old pipe. It could be many different issues or a combination thereof,” said Mayor of Silver Bay Wade LeBlanc.

Mayor Leblanc says the situation started Saturday night with a broken fire hydrant. While city workers were repairing the break, pressure built in the underground infrastructure across town, causing the first two water mains to burst, and soon, more would break.

“And when they shut that off, you know, it created some pressure somewhere else. We had another break. So – and then I think we had one or two more since then,” said LeBlanc.

The break on Banks Blvd happened right next to William Kelley High School, forcing the school day to be cancelled for Monday.

“I got information from the city that there was water main breaks around town. They didn’t know how that was going to impact the school long term. So, we kind of started making phone calls,” said Principal of William Kelley High School Dan Johnson.

Principal Johnson says this isn’t the first time a water main has broken next to the school. “I know the infrastructure in Silver Bay is its aging and there is plans that the role that the water main break broke this time is scheduled for reconstruction next summer. Usually it’s just one break, but they’ve had multiple breaks in the city, which is unusual.”

City crews now work to repair the four water main breaks, slowly returning water to the residents of Silver Bay. The water emergency will remain in effect until all repairs are complete, water testing has been completed, and the city is waiting for results to return.