Mayor A.J. Holloway and the Mississippi Department of Health announced this afternoon that the boil-water notice, which had been in effect for Biloxi residents south of the Bay since Aug. 29, has been lifted.
All water supplied by the City of Biloxi is now safe for drinking.
“This is a significant step in this city’s recovery effort,” Holloway said in making the announcement. “I congratulate our Public Works teams who have been working to resolve this issue. They stayed focused on the job, and today their efforts mean that our citizens can once again rely on this city to provide clean and dependable water.”
The lifting of the boil-water notice, Holloway said, also means that more area restaurants and other businesses will be in a better position to re-open. Said the mayor: “We appreciate everyone’s patience while we’ve worked to address this issue.”
Public Works Director Richard Sullivan, whose department oversees the city’s water and sewer operations, said his crews had to rebuild many of the 24 wells that provide the city’s drinking water.
“All the control panels, chlorination systems, booster pumps and buildings that housed these systems were destroyed in many cases,” Sullivan said. “We also found that the motors that drive the wells were burned up because of saltwater. In many cases we were left with only a well head connected to a water main. We had to start from scratch in many cases.
“My personnel have been working around the clock on this, and I realize it’s taken a while, but I’m proud of the job they’ve done.”
