Copperhill restaurants adapting to boil water advisory one week after flooding

From Local 3 News: You don’t realize just how often you use water every day until you have to stop and think about whether that water is safe.

In Copperhill, restaurants are having to make those decisions with every step of their operations, from washing their hands and dishes to serving water to customers.

Water is part of just about everything for restaurants.

But with the boil water advisory still in effect in Copperhill, businesses have had to get creative and take extra steps to make sure the water they use is safe.

At Buck Bald Brewing, Clay Ware says they’re using one of their brewing tanks to boil large amounts of water at a time.

“We can boil water in our brew tanks, so we can boil 100 gallons of water at a time,” says Ware.

They’ve also cut water to the sinks in their bathrooms, instead setting up a hand-washing station with water that’s been boiled and cooled.

“We set up a handwashing station outside the restroom. We cut the water off the sink if you have to come out and wash hands with the boiled water,” says Ware.

It’s another layer of work for a business that’s already been through a lot, but Ware says it’s about making sure they’re doing things the right way.

And Buck Bald isn’t the only restaurant making changes.

At Meraki Souq Mediterranean, Mathew Maloof says the advisory has added an extra step to his daily routine, but one he’s happy to take.

“While the boil water advisory is in place, we have to use bottled water,” says Maloof.

Officials say don’t assume water is safe just because it looks, smells, or tastes normal.

For these restaurants, that means continuing to adapt until the water is cleared.

The city says additional follow-up testing will be needed before the boil water advisory can be lifted.

Copperhill Mayor Greg Barker told Local 3 that they’ve sent another water sample to be tested, and they should be expecting those results as early as this week.