Selinsgrove schools open today

By Rob Scott
The Daily Item

May 19, 2008 07:36 am

— Update 6:30 a.m. SELINSGROVE – Although there is a boil water advisory for the Selinsgrove Intermediate and Middle Schools, all schools in the Selinsgrove Area School District are open today. Drinking water will be provided for students and staff in those buildings.
DEP issued the water advisory for water customers on Industrial Park Road, Susquehanna University and west, Magnolia Avenue and west (including Pine Meadows), the Selinsgrove Intermediate and Middle Schools, Linda and Melody Lane. DEP recommends that water used for drinking, cooking or brushing teeth be heated to a rapid boil for one minute.

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Two Snyder County communities are advising their residents to boil their water after recent water samples were found to be contaminated.
Selinsgrove and Kreamer issued advisories Sunday after water samples came back positive for coliform bacteria.
Testing for coliform is required on a monthly basis by the state Department of Environmental Protection. In each municipality, only one sample was found to be contaminated.
William Rosancrans Jr., Kreamer Municipal Authority manager, said it’s very easy to contaminate a water sample with coliform.
“If you touch the inside of the rim of the jar, you can contaminate the water,” he said. “It does happen from time to time.”
But as a precautionary measure, municipalities are required to advise their residents to boil their water.
Both communities have their water tested at Wilson Testing Labs in Shamokin, which does testing for a number of municipalities in the area, according to Rosancrans.
He said a representative from the company told him other communities had tested positive for coliform and it may have been due to the recent heavy rainfall.
Rosancrans and Selinsgrove borough manager John Bickhart said they checked the chlorine levels in their water supplies and they were at an adequate level to stave off contamination.
“That just gives us more confidence it’s not something in our water system,” Bickhart said.
Both communities will retest today. Bickhart said the borough should receive the results in 24 hours, and Rosancrans said it could take a few days.
If the tests come back negative, the advisory will be lifted. If not, they will have to track down the source of the contamination, Rosancrans said.
n E-mail comments about this article to rscott@dailyitem.com.