Cary town leaders on Tuesday touted their response to a major water main break and defended their communication with 50,000 affected customers.
The 30-inch water main break on NC-55 early Monday forced a temporary road closure, dozens of schools and businesses to close early, and bottled water to fly off store shelves. A drop in water pressure prompted town leaders to advise impacted customers to boil water before using as a precaution.
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During a council quarterly meeting on Tuesday, town officials responded to online criticism of outreach efforts to those impacted.
"We communicated on just about every forum that we could early and often," Cary Utilities Director Jamie Revels said during an update on pipe repairs.
Several online users commented that they found out about potential issues hours later on social media, instead of directly from the town. Others said it was difficult to understand who exactly was impacted.
"Why hasn't the Town sent out a text message/email to customers? Not everyone is on [Facebook]," a Cary resident commented.
During Tuesday's meeting, Cary council member Lori Bush said members of the town's Information Services Advisory Board had feedback on communication efforts.
"Their feedback was their daycares didn't know," Bush said. "From a feedback perspective, it would've been nice if daycares and restaurants -- there were comments about people going through the Starbucks line and finding out after they left."
Several Cary leaders praised the town's outreach and response.
"My personal opinion, you guys did an outstanding job getting the message out because, like I said, I wasn't even here and I got the message," Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said who noted that he's been "bombarded" by people criticizing the communication. "Tell me how we could communicate with you better and they couldn't."
Revels promised improvements.
"...with the new utility billing system having more interactive communication features that go into the customer portal. That's one thing we believe is going to be a big improvement for us going forward."
He said crews have made progress in getting the water system back to normal, telling council members that a replacement pipe is nearly ready to go into service as of Tuesday afternoon. Early morning test results confirmed that the water is safe for normal use. Revels noted crews have not determined an official cause of the water main break, but noted the more than 30-year-old pipe is still within its lifespan.
There were several online comments from users who said they did receive messages from both Wake County and the Town of Cary about the water advisory.
Town officials are urging residents to sign up for both county and town emergency alerts.
