Montgomery residents who live north of the Beltway should continue to boil water before drinking, cooking and brushing their teeth today, but officials said water quality results expected late Wednesday afternoon may return life to normal.
Representatives of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission said tens of thousands of county residents living in northern Montgomery County, in areas like Gaithersburg, Germantown, Burtonsville, Olney, Derwood and Wheaton, were affected by the four water main breaks since Sunday.
County Executive Ike Leggett, under guidance from state health officials, estimated 900 restaurant and food service facilities closed late Monday to protect residents from potentially contaminated water.
“In food facilities, you have a lot of different people involved — washing ingredients, chopping things, cooking, washing dishes,”Leggett’s spokesman Patrick Lacefield said. “There’s just a lot more moving parts than at home, so that’s why we had to do this.”
WSSC experts said water samples must pass two separate bacteria screenings before they will stop directing people to boil water before using it for everything from ice to washing the dishes. The first test results are expected around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, the second late Wednesday afternoon. Both rounds of tests need to find the water free of elevated levels of coliform and other bacteria before officials will change their public guidelines.
Monday’s bans on activities like watering gardens and filling pools, along with requests to limit toilet flushing to help preserve water for emergency situations, are no longer in effect since water service has been fully restored. Showering is OK, as long as residents do not swallow water.
Restaurant owners and residents alike expressed frustration with the closures of food service facilities.
Germantown resident Ajay Sachdeva said he had no idea where to take a cousin who was visiting from Massachusetts for dinner when he learned Metro Dhaba/Il Forno, a Gaithersburg restaurant that serves both Italian food and Indian food — including his favorite samosas — was closed.
“I drove 10 miles to get here, what do we do now?,” Sachdeva said.
The restaurant’s owner, Joginder Nayar, thanked him for trying.
Nayar acknowledged that a Chinese restaurant half a block away was open for business. “Those that stay open, it’s their call. I cannot do it, I am honest,” he said.
Lacefield said the county will not be fining restaurants who fail to comply with closure orders.
