Boil water order lifted in Woodstock

A boil water order prompted by a water line break in Woodstock has been lifted, after a lab on Friday confirmed that Woodstock Aqueduct water is now safe to drink.

As town officials advised online, “Please run your faucet for at least 5 minutes prior to drinking from it for the first time.”

The order was put in place early Thursday morning, and water sample results from Endyne Laboratories in Lebanon, New Hampshire, were emailed to the Woodstock Aqueduct Company at 4:05 p.m. on Friday. The lab had to wait the required 24 hours from the time each of the three samples was taken, before testing them.

After that much-anticipated email, Nate Billings, vice president and general manager of the Woodstock Aqueduct Company, quickly set about sharing the good news.

“I’ve called pretty much every inn and bed & breakfast in town already, and almost all the businesses,” Billings said at 4:40 p.m. Friday. “Everyone’s been very happy.”

The water line break snapped pavement and left a sinkhole in front of the Woodstock Recreation Center in the very early hours of Thursday. The Aqueduct system was eventually turned off, leaving many customers, including all of Woodstock Village, without running water for much of the day Thursday. Service was fully restored by late afternoon, and repairs in front of the Rec building were complete by about 4 p.m. Thursday.

The Recreation Center, where water had flowed into the building Thursday morning, plans to reopen Tuesday. Servpro will continue cleaning and drying inside the Rec building all weekend.

As for the long term, the local water system is in need of significant upgrades. Efforts are underway to determine whether federal relief money would be available to pay for that work, given that the Aqueduct is a private entity. As of Friday afternoon, there was no official confirmation on the matter.

— Gareth Henderson

May 11, 2021, update: The Woodstock Recreation Center will open on Monday, May 17, according to an announcement on Facebook.