Huntsville no longer under boil order as town restores water access just days before Christmas

HUNTSVILLE — The town of Huntsville’s water woes are finally over. The State of Utah has cleared the town to lift the boil order, which came because of a massive leak in the Huntsville water supply. That means it’s now safe to drink the water again.

Raise a glass to water again in Huntsville. It’s the first time residents here have been able to drink water from the tap in 10 days.

“Feels great to have it back on, that’s for sure,” said Tommy Christie, Huntsville resident.

On Monday, the Utah Division of Drinking Water approved lifting the boil order, just in time for the holidays.

“It’s been a long two weeks. It’s been frustrating for a lot of people, and for us, and we’re going to have a nice merry Christmas and happy New Year,” Richard Sorensen, the Huntsville mayor, said.

A massive leak discovered two weeks ago depleted the town’s water supply. Crews spent days searching for the source and finally found it last Monday in the pipes underneath the parking lot of the Huntsville water treatment plant.

A hotel and restaurant, both temporarily forced to close, can now function again like normal.

“We’re going to drain our ice maker, make ice again, fill the run water, flush the toilets… when you don’t have it, you don’t realize how much you use it,” said Jane Thompson, Shooting Star Saloon employee.

The water in Huntsville is finally worry-free.

“For us with the holidays coming, things are back to normal so that’s good, so friends and family coming over is not a problem,” said Christie.

As far as avoiding fiascos like this in the future, the Mayor said they learned a few things from this experience and believe they can lessen the impact and shorten the time it takes to find future leaks. They’ll sit down and look at that in the coming weeks.