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MPR News Staff

Water service returns to Blaine; schools closed and residents told to boil water

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Updated: 3:00 p.m. | Published 9:45 a.m.

Water service is back to normal in Blaine following an early morning failure of the city's water delivery system, but schools are closed Monday and residents are urged to boil their water.

After residents began reporting a drop in water pressure around 8 a.m. Sunday, the city opened an emergency operations center. Homes and businesses in the city lost service entirely for more than two hours.

Blaine mayor Tom Ryan said an initial review points to a software problem.

"The first issue is that the backup system that sends off the alarms didn't work. They didn't go off until 8:30 a.m. or 8:45 a.m. is when the signals came in."

Ryan said there is still no indication of a water main break or other major leak.

The city is drawing water from neighboring suburbs including Coon Rapids to refill its water towers.

In a statement, Public Services manager Bob Therres said there are no known safety or contamination issues with the water, but as a standard procedure the city put a boil requirement on drinking water.

Six schools in Blaine will close on Monday and all after-school activities are canceled to allow for ongoing water testing.

The city expects results of its water testing to be available on Monday afternoon.

Blaine has around 64,000 residents.