Waterbury restores water as officials urge residents to temporarily refrain from flushing plumbing

Waterbury restores water as officials urge residents to temporarily refrain from flushing plumbing

Sean Krofssik, Hartford Courant

Wed, December 17, 2025 at 7:45 PM UTC

5 min read

Water has been restored in Waterbury after a massive water main break last Friday, but the boil water advisory remains in effect for the entire city on Wednesday.

“At 8:30 last night, we were able to begin increasing the pressure and releasing the 30-inch pressure valve pressure line into the system to fill that overnight, most of the system has filled up. At this point, there is water throughout the system. Everyone should have water at this point,” Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski said during a press conference at the city’s water department on Wednesday.

Water samples were collected on Wednesday morning and sent to the State Public Health Laboratory with results expected on Thursday morning.

“We expect to have a clean bill of health going forward,” Pernerewski said. “If we don’t, then we’ll test again in 24 hours.”

City officials did make “an urgent and impassioned request that residents temporarily refrain from flushing their individual plumbing systems until tomorrow,” a news release said on Wednesday.

“While water service has been restored citywide, the city must allow critical water storage tanks to fully refill in order to stabilize the system. At this time, water usage across Waterbury has surged well beyond sustainable levels as residents flush air from their systems,” the release said.

According to Waterbury officials, water demand was more than what the treatment plant could supply and the city, as of around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, was using more water than it does on the Fourth of July, the single highest water usage day of the year.

“This extraordinary level of demand is slowing the system’s ability to rebuild adequate pressure and refill storage tanks, which is essential for long-term system stability and reliable service for all neighborhoods,” the release said. “Residents are strongly asked to conserve water and, if possible, delay flushing their systems until tomorrow to allow the storage tanks to fully recharge.”

Brad Malay, superintendent for the Waterbury Water Department, said the department was deliberate because “I didn’t want to blow people’s service lines out.”

“A lot of those service lines where they connect to the main are old. I mean, really old,” Malay said. “I didn’t want to blow those out because repairing a main is one thing, but repairing 2,000, 3,000 water services is completely another. Now I’m digging up every single yard trying to get those things repaired so people have services. I know people were aggravated. I know people were upset with me. That’s fine. I’ll accept that because we didn’t blow out a single service main on anyone’s house.”

Pernerewski warned that just because residents have flowing water now, they should not drink it unless it’s boiled or until test results are back. “Same thing for restaurants. Until those test results come back, they should all remain closed unless they have a completely separate alternate source of water from the city system,” he said.

Aisling McGuckin, the director of health for the Waterbury Health Department, asked for residents to exercise caution.

“If you’re making baby formula, you should use bottled water,” McGuckin said. “You shouldn’t use boiled water. It’s not appropriate for babies to be drinking this water even if it’s boiled. If you are making coffee, you need to boil your water. You can’t put it into the coffee maker and expect it to come out hot and that’s not boiled.”

As far as showering before test results come in, anyone with an open wound or who is immune compromised and not able to fend off infection should not shower until the results aren’t back out of an abundance of caution, McGuckin said.

She added that adults who don’t have these conditions can confidently shower with this water without drinking it.

“They can confidently wash clothes, wash dishes. If you’re hand washing dishes, please let them drip dry,” McGuckin said. “Don’t use a towel to dry them because then that towel has, if there were bacteria in the water, has bacteria on the towel and you’re going to continue to just spread infection. E. coli is the predominant infection we’re most concerned about with a change in the water quality.”

Waterbury schools will reopen on Thursday. According to Pernerewski, all schools now have water. Two schools had backflow valve issues that have since been repaired.

“We have hundreds of cases of water that are ready to go to the schools tomorrow,” Waterbury Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Darren Schwartz said on Wednesday. “All of the bubblers and drinking fountains will be covered for tomorrow.”

Schwartz said the schools are also taking extra precaution for food services “and making sure we are abiding by the health department’s recommendation, whether it’s food preparation and through handling, so students are safe when they eat their food.”

Waterbury residents who still do not have water are asked to call 311 or the water department. Bottled water was available Wednesday at Municipal Stadium, located at 1200 Watertown Ave., until supplies are depleted.

Pernerewski said home deliveries would continue for residents who are elderly, infirm or housebound. The deliveries were supported by United Way volunteers and local nonprofit partners in coordination with the city. Residents needing assistance are asked to call 311 or 203-597-3444.

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