While the most recent boil advisory for Lake Waccamaw was lifted Friday, the Boys and Gils Home is still accepting donations of bottled water.
The home cares for upwards of 300 children at any given time, including students at the Thomas Academy and children who are receiving in-home care. Most of those children are in residential care at the home.
Construction of the new interchange at Chaunceytown Road and U.S. 74 has led to intermittent outages in the entire water system for the town. DOT has scheduled the outages for the overnight hours, but state law requires boil advisories to be issued with any significant pressure loss.
The latest advisory was lifted Thursday afternoon, but the Department of Transportation and the town expect a new boil advisory to be issued next week. The advisories are issued when pressure loss or reversed flow allows contaminants to build up in the water system. Vigorous boiling of any water used for human consumption – from drinking to brushing teeth – is usually recommended as a precautionary measure. Water is still considered safe for bathing, washing and animals during boil advisories.
The home uses a lot of water – between drinking water, meal preparations and other needs, the home can go through the equivalent of 50 cases of water per day. Home officials estimated that the facility will need a total of 800 cases through March 20, when the water outages are expected to be complete. The home began using its emergency supplies, normally held for hurricanes and other disasters, last week.
Spokeswoman Amanda Irwin said even one or two cases can help. Donations can be dropped off at Flemington Hall on Campus during regular businesses hours. The home will also have a table at Southern Farm Days this weekend where water donations can be left.
For more information, call 910.646.3083.
