According to an online post by the Sierra County Sheriff's Office, water levels in Sierra County's Downieville storage tank reached critically low levels because of river conditions.
As of 11:15 a.m. on December 22, the Sheriff's Office says the water tanks are beginning to refill, but the Downieville community is now on a boil water notice for the next seven to ten days.
The Sheriff’s Office provided instructions below:
- Bring all water to a rolling boil for 1-3 minutes
- Use boiled or bottled water for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, and washing dishes
- Ice should be made with boiled or bottled water only
- In an earlier online post, the community was alerted on Sunday that the Downieville Public Utilities would be shutting down the water system due to the river conditions.
The public was asked in an earlier post on December 21, to conserve water for the next 24 hours to help conserve water in the tank. Eventually, another post followed up, stating to stop all use of water due to the tank being at a critical low level.
Currently, the boil notice remains in effect until further notice, according to the Sheriff's Office.
