By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
VILLAGE OF OXFORD — On Oct. 8, the Oxford Village Council discussed a PVC pipe leak in the village’s water plant on Glaspie Street and now its repair will likely lead to a boil-water advisory for its residents, village Manager Joe Madore said.
The leaking pipe connects to a water softener, and there is no way to isolate the leak, Madore said. Repairs require the system to be opened. Anytime the system is opened a boil water advisory is required.
The village wants to avoid an advisory by interconnecting with township plants so that village residents could be fed water while the plant is shut down during the repair, however a different water chemistry, different water systems and other differences between the village and township mean “those interconnects might not be a viable option,” Madore said.
Still, Madore also said the village is looking into a way to successfully isolate and connect the Oxford Lake’s subdivision, a third of the village’s customers, to the interconnect system. If completed successfully, the subdivision’s users would not draw down on the water tower’s capacity during the repairs.
Madore also told village council that Artisan of Pioneer, the company that built the water plant in 2009, quoted repairs to cost around $18,000. Repair entails allowing the different types of glue to cure for three to four hours and around 12 hours before water can be put back into the system, and then pressurizing the system again, according to Madore.
“It may come down to the point where we do have to shut off the plant, run off the water tower for a day or so, and try to conserve water (as) best we can,” Madore said. “If we get the repairs done in a day (or a) day and a half, put water back in the system … then we’ll be on a boil water advisory for (a) couple days.”

While the potential for using interconnections to feed water to a compatible subdivision was mentioned to help further preserve water, Madore also said he does not think the boil water advisory will be avoidable when the system is turned back on.

Still, Madore said the village will look for options to minimize the impact. One possible option is starting repairs on a Sunday night as residents get ready to go to bed so that remaining water could get residents into Monday or into Tuesday without losing water, but chances of being without water are “there,” according to Madore.

Village Council President Kelsey Cooke said she would like to get a communication plan in order, and mentioned possibly providing bottled water for residents who do not want to boil their water.

No dates were given for the repairs as of Oct. 8.

The issue will be discussed further at the village council’s next meeting, or sooner if necessary. The next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.