An 85-year-old water main in Benzie County is creating headaches for businesses, homeowners and village workers.
The Village of Beulah issued a boil water advisory just after six on Monday.
An aging water main along Spring Valley Street burst.
It actually happened while village leaders were discussing how to replace it.
9&10’s Caroline Powers and photojournalist John Harrington have continuing coverage on what businesses are doing to adapt and how the village plans to move forward.
At the Ursa Major Bistro in the Village of Beulah, coffee is what they do.
“I grind just enough, I put that in there and then bottled water in the back. Push start and wait ten minutes instead of three,” says Kelly Chorley, owner of Ursa Major Bistro. “It’s all going from this one little pot instead of two giant air pots at a time.”
That’s because their waterline coffee makers are off limits.
“I’m supposed to be baking all day today and I’ve pretty much just been standing here making coffee pot after coffee pot to keep it going,” Chorley says.
From constantly boiling a pot of water to stocking up on two liters, Ursa Major Bistro is doing whatever they need to keep business going.
“I’m going to need to drink a lot of espresso so I can keep smiling,” Chorley says. “It’s going to be a lot of work but we have to do it. We can’t close down and lose the sales.”
“We had the worst main rupture in village history,” says Dan Smith, Village of Beulah president.
Monday evening an 85-year-old water main burst in the village.
That send more than 250,000 gallons of water down the road and everyone under a boil water advisory.
“They had a lot of trouble containing it in order to get in the hole and work on the pipe, but they did,” Smiths says. “It took a lot of effort.”
Right now, village leaders are applying for a state grant to help pay for a $4 million project that replaces their aging water system.
“We are operating under an administrative consent order since this spring issued by the Department of Environmental Quality,” Smith says. “Which requires us to replace the water tank and the older mains with a specific time table. There were upgrades that needed to be made years ago.”
The village has secured a federal loan for the project, but they are hoping a state granny from the Community Development Block department will help offset the cost so water rates don’t go up.
The village will be be conducting water pressure tests over the next two days.
© 2023 - 910 Media Group
