GRANVILLE — The city of Granville woke up to a surprise Saturday as city crews and officials went around town issuing a boil order to residents.

“We’ve had some water freeze ups due to frost in the ground and then from that we’ve had a water tower issue where a pump went out and there was a leak in the water tower,” Granville Mayor Corey Long said. “We have rural water that comes into Granville and that has a certain PSI, and if it’s below 20 PSI for 24 hours there’s a mandatory water boil order.”

Unfortunately for the city, that 24 hour mark was hit Saturday. The fire department was out immediately and within 45 minutes had notified and placed fliers on the doors of every Granville resident and business.

Due to the potential of waterborne disease, the boiling order is in effect until further notice. According to city auditor Karly Randash, the city is working to restore pressure to fill the water tower and reinstate the water system.

“Once we find out more, we will tell the public by either Facebook or the reverse-911, which we’ve been using,” Long said.

The city utility operator checks on the water tower daily, which leads Long to believe “this wasn’t something that was neglected, this was something that just happened.”

Long, along with city staff and crews, were out Saturday delivering cases of water to residents.

“We had 20 volunteer fire department members delivering water today, we have the Red Cross brining water in and we have buckets if (residents) want to fill up at City Hall,” Long explained. “We basically have all of our troops on deck.”

There are cases of water available at Granville City Hall, which will be open today from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for residents that need to come gather water or anything else they may need. Residents will need to fill buckets of water to flush toilets and conserve as much water as they can.

“We hate to see stuff happen like this,” Long said. “We don’t know what else we can do. It’s mother nature that caused the frost and there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Residents with questions are encouraged to reach out to the City of Granville by calling 263-2219 or Granville City Hall at 728-6369.

— Ashton Gerard