CHARLESTON — In response to persistent rumors around the state about water being turned off to various communities at various times, West Virginia American Water assured its customers Monday that it has not and has no plans to turn water service off to any communities.

On the contrary, crews are working around the clock to restore service in outlying areas where the company has not been able to supply backup power sources at this time.

Some customers — particularly those in the higher elevations of the outlying parts of the company’s water systems — may experience outages in their water service until power is restored or until the company can supply generators for the specific boosters and tanks in that area. Crews have been working around the clock since Friday night’s storm to deploy emergency generators to dozens of remote sites including water storage tanks and booster stations that remain without power.

Remote sites that have lost power or lost communication with the plant control room must each be check manually, which unfortunately has been hampered by downed trees and power lines — rendering some sites inaccessible. West Virginia American Water assures its customers that these outages are not due to any problem with the water system; rather, they are due to lack of power to pump treated water into certain parts of the system. Crews are working to move generators to pump water into tanks, and once tanks are full, move those generators on to other needed areas. This process will continue until power is restored.

“Our employees have put their families and their own storm-related problems on hold to maintain water service to our customers and restore service to those without water at this time,” said Jeff McIntyre, WVAW president. “The rumors about shutting off service to any area are completely unfounded and would be entirely counterproductive to our company’s power restoration efforts.

“We appreciate your assistance in putting this rumor to rest as quickly as possible, as the time our employees spend dispelling this rumor wastes critical time for our efforts.”

As of Wednesday, the New River Water Treatment Plant was running on fully restored power.

Any scheduled shutoffs would be announced prior to the shutoff via a press release and posted to the company's website.

Updates will be provided at www.westvirginiaamwater.com or by calling West Virginia American Water’s 24-hour customer service center at 1-800-685-8660.

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Officials from the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health (WVBPH) have issued a boil water advisory for customers of any water system in West Virginia who have experienced low water pressure, cloudy water or a loss of water service following Friday night’s storm.

Environmental Health Services Director Barbara Taylor says that statewide power outages related to the Friday night storm may have put many water supplies at risk, and the advisory will remain in effect until further notice.

Affected customers should boil their water before consumption until further notice. Boiling kills bacteria and other organisms that may be present in the water. Customers should bring water used for drinking, cooking, bathing and brushing teeth to a full boil for a minimum of one minute, then cool before use.

For customers who have no means to boil their water due to widespread power outages, the WVBPH offers a guidance document for disinfecting small quantities of water during periods of natural disasters. The document states that water may be treated with chlorine or iodine tablets made for this purpose, or by mixing 10 drops (1/4 teaspoon) of unscented, ordinary household chlorine bleach (5.25% sodium hypochlorite) with one gallon of water. Mix well and let stand for 30 minutes. Water should have a distinct taste or smell of chlorine. If chlorine taste or smell is not present, add 10 more drops of bleach and allow water to stand for 15 minutes before using.

WVAW  also recommends the following steps:

-- Throw away beverages and ice cubes if made with tap water;

-- Keep boiled water in the refrigerator for drinking;

-- Provide pets with boiled water after cooling;

-- Do not use home filtering devices in place of boiling or using bottled water; most home water filters will not provide adequate protection from microorganisms; and

-- Use only boiled water to treat minor injuries.

WVAW’s water quality department is proactively sampling water for bacteriological integrity as its systems repressurize. Once systems fully recover, the company collect additional water quality samples in the area of the outage. For more information, call the customer service center at 1-800-685-8660.