Asbury residents urged not to use water for any purpose
Water is safe, but city seeks to reduce flow into treatment plant
[UPDATE: City manager Terence Reidy said at 12:05 p.m. today that power has been restored to the waste water treatment plant and the emergency is no longer in effect. City residents can now use water normally. For the full story, click here.]
Asbury Park residents are being urged not to use water for any purpose until further notice due to an emergency at the city’s waste water treatment facility in the 1700 block of Ocean Avenue.
“City officials are working to rectify the situation at this point and it is a top priority to rectify the problem at the waste water treatment facility,” said Garrett Giberson, spokesperson for the Office of Emergency Management in the city.
The issue began sometime this morning, Giberson said. It affects the entire city. Residents and businesses alike should not be flushing toilets, bathing, drinking tap water or using it in anyway, Giberson said.
The water is not considered to be unsafe at this time, Giberson said, but “anything that goes down into the drains or in the toilets goes into the sewage system so we’re trying to reduce that,” he said.
No areas outside the city are served by the Asbury water treatment plant. Giberson expects the issue will continue until power is restored to the facility.
The city does not currently have an estimate for when power will be restored, Giberson said. Officials have been in contact with representatives from Jersey Central Power & Light [JCP&L], and are “feverishly working to mitigate the situation,” he said.
Some areas of the city are still “significantly without power,” he said. He will not make a determination as to whether businesses in the city should close, but emphasized that water in the city should not be used for any purpose.
