New alert system on way after water main break
A system for instantly alerting residents of crises should be in place in a month, the city manager announced Monday.
“A month too late,” City Manager Robert W. Healy said wryly to city councillors, referring to a Saturday break of a 30-inch water main at Broadway and Trowbridge Street that flooded the area and lowered water pressure citywide. The biggest issues were resolved within five hours, he said, and temporary paving Tuesday morning should essentially mark the end of the problems.
Water never had to be boiled for use, and there was no citywide shutdown or fire risk, he said. There was also backup from regional water service if those things were to happen.
“It was a very difficult four- to five-hour period,” Healy said, but he and others had nothing but praise for how the crisis was handled by emergency responders and Public Works.
Information was slow getting out, though, said vice mayor Henrietta Davis, and some that did get out was misinformation.
The new information system will be called Code Red, said Healy, who spoke of the need for the city to take greater advantage of social media. The city already sends out news via an e-mail system for which residents must sign up.
During the entire event, the Cambridge city website had no information about it at all. (And neither did the Cambridge Chronicle website or its blog.)
I initially tried calling the Water Department and then the Public Works Department and got nothing but busy signals. It was clear they were being inundated by calls. Having better (and hopefully almost instant) information will make everything easier for the people who have to handle the calls. I ended up accessing the police/fire scanner to listen in and find out what was up. After that, it was Twitter that was most helpful for sending and receiving updates.
I just published a letter in the Chronicle about the lack of swift PR. I sent in the letter Sunday afternoon before the CM admitted they needed to do a better job to let people know. And I was happy to be a twitterer on the ground Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.