Thank you for the photo, Michael! Keep us posted

Good luck and best wishes to all the folks without water this weekend. Combined with the high heat, that's a bad combination.

Wow what great pictures indeed. I wonder how these huge pipes can just break apart like that?

Whoa, great photos. So glad I showered and did laundry this morning.

Are these the water pipes that NJ Water just spent about 5 years replacing?

Just showed these pictures to my kids who were whining that they couldn't use the slip n slide. Ooohhh, they said, now we get it.

This bridge was damaged by the hurricaine ! Tell me they didn't see this coming,Looks like an excuse for a hike in rates

Sad to see this but that bridge was ready to go anytime. Especially after the hurricaine last year. Don't these companies have engineers who oversee the integrity of their properties?

what part of Long Branch is affected?

The American Water warning isn't helpful. It doesn't list towns. What measures are there in effect by American Water to help their customers on this weekend?

I just received a message that Eatontown is included as one of the affected towns.

What's sad is that nothing is listed about this on NJAWC website. I learned about it through Code Red from Tinton Falls!

So typical of this water company! A day late and a dollar short (and the customers will have to pay the dollar!) I love their constant failure to look ahead . . . like times of draught and water restrictions. We're sitting on the Atlantic Ocean, and they can't find water!

is keansburg affected at all?

What about Matawan? Anyone know?

I live in Aberdeen & received a message to boil the water & refrain from extra useage.

On the Nj American Water Company site:

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMERPR/1946524328x0x580406/57106957-88c7-491f-a1ea-a6c5b0814510/580406.pdf

We also got a code red message on the phone from Tinton Falls

@lisa cook think Keansburg is supplied by Shoreland water co.

Is all of Long Branch involved? We live on Franklin Ave.

Keansburg supplies their own water.

We received a reverse 911 call in Sea Bright at 3:55 PM to limit our water usage until further notice. Our reverse 911 calls are a great notification to residents. I suggest people sign up with their respective towns for this service.

Matawan is on its own water supply during the summer, I think...!

Water distribution centers have been established; see the story for locations. So far, Middletown and Oceanport.

If you have low pressure then your affected

Any word on the tackle box and flip flop found,hopefully no one was injured or missing

Thanks, Nick, for the Matawan update!

I just drove past the site and was surprised to see that there was no one working on repairing this. Just a News 12 truck and a Middletown police officer. Guess there's no urgency in fixing it on their part.

If that's true, then the joke is once again on the consumer.... NJAWC is a JOKE.

Tinton Falls had a timely, clear phone message to residents outlining the problem (thanks Tinton Falls!). New Jersey American's main N.J. site had nothing on this -- it showed a map with Monmouth County listed as "normal" as late as 6 p.m. today! They obviously don't have a realistic public information disaster plan in effect. This accident should never had happened, but the company's disregard for their customers is pathetic. They should ask JCP&L about negative publicity in an emergency -- JCP&L felt the sting of public outrage after last year's storm (the same storm that damaged the spillway at the Tinton Falls water facility that just collapsed into rubble!). OK Gov. Christy -- please help get this mess cleaned up pronto and figure out who's responsible for this disaster (yes, finger pointing).

Why would anyone expect this Water Company to jump on this problem now when it can wait until Monday. Apparently the 10+ months since Irene, they did not believe the weight of the damaged bridge would cause a weight distribution problem obviously weakening the pipes. Complaints and whatever legal actions should be filed with BPU and any other State and Federal Agencies who would regulate and force this utility to pay fines and restitution to any individual or party negatively affected.

Be sure to drain the sediment out of your water heater by connecting a garden hose to the drain valve, and place the hose in a sink, sump pump pit, or out the window. This can help extend the life of the appliance, and performance.
(Have a properly sized/threaded cap available as the drain valve may leak if you have not done this before)

Another fine example of the failing infrastructure and bureaucratic bs. If you would like to see what your water looks like after 3 months of filtering, check out http://activerain.com/blogsview/818276/december-tip-of-the-month-you-are-what-you-drink-how-s-your-water-quality

Wait now i am confused. is business placess still b open in middletown tomarrow or not like Dunkin Donuts,mcdonald etc? please if anyone knoes the answer response soon as possible

Keep in mind that there are two parts to this red alert: A) if you are an American Water customer, you must boil your water, and B) if you live in Monmouth County, you must restrict your usage of water -- don't be watering your lawn or washing your car and any other ways you can conserve. I called American Water and they didn't have my name or address in their system. I live in Cliffwood Beach section of Aberdeen. They leave just enough doubt to make me boil my water, but this should be a simple question with a simple answer. These people who issue these alerts and manage this water supply information are not doing an adequate job of informing the public. Who can we fire?

Not sure where Stephanie was looking on her drive by but my huuby has been working there all day! It is hot maybe they were allowed to hydrate for 5 minutes!

I'm in holmdel and have shorelands we don't have to boil just restrict

Received a call at 12:15 am, June 30, 2012 from the Neptune TWP. Mayor about the water restrictions and to boil the water; we knew nothing about this until this call; we drank the water, so did our dog..........

Excellent photographs- thanks for taking and posting them. I just showed them to my young children and these pictures did a better of job of explaining the situation than I did!
I just cannot imagine how this footbridge could give way. I wonder if there was sabotage or just faulty bridge maintenance.

that water bridge has been banged up since the tropical storm last year .. guess they overlooked the pipes ...

Are people really on this site arguing with eachother about this? We are all in serious trouble if we immediately go for eachothers throats when a minor emergency happens. What will happen if there was a major failure of infrastructure or society? Hunger Games? Sure that would happen anywhere except in monmouth county it wont take days or weeks to reach that level of breakdown it will happen after 24 hours without their precious 4G access or something.

A "boil alert" for all of Monmouth County was issued Friday night by county officials, due to the interconnectedness of the different water company systems. Also, strict restriction on unnecessary water usage. See http://patch.com/A-vDNM

I would recommend that we all conserve and boil. I have low confidence that this will be a minor or short term event given the Water Street debacle (ironic) in Tinton Falls. I am hopeful we learned something from that event. The country's infrastructure is failing. Leaders need to lead, do'ers need to do. Everyone need to support!

What happened to Middletown"s reverse 911 system to alert residents? Why didn't NJAW start a computerized call of all customer's in the affected areas? They have our phone numbers on file. Everyone is not "electronically connected" 24/7! D. Jakub

Shorelands gets 50% of it's water from NJAW. There is nothing on their website about the break or boiling, but I think it may be prudent to boil water for now.

Can't wait to send the water company the bill for my contaminated and must be replaced reverse osmosis watering system

I think we should not have to pay our bill this quarter, since this is the second boil water alert in 3 weeks for us in Aberdeen..Why pay for what we can't drink or use.

Chriistina - Lucky you for pulling weekend duty trying to fill the news vacuum with useful info under trying circumstances. A few other questions:

- What about area restaurants? Are they all using boiled water-only? Are they safe to patronize?

- Has there been a run on bottled water at local supermarkets; or is it "biz as usual" & we can pick up water as-needed on routine trips to the grocer? Are there ample supplies, locally, of bottled juices, soda, iced tea etc.; or has there been. run on these items too?

- Time line - How long (max/min range est) til restrictions should be lifted? I hope Tim G. is wrong, but fear he might be right - I'd feel less antsy if we had corroborating info from a credible official source.

As someone who lives seconds from that bridge: for the last few weeks the stench coming from the bridge and facility area were unreal. I live on the Tinton Falls side of the bridge, just over the railroad tracks and many many days and nights I'd step out of my house to smell raw sewage. We've been here 6 years and that has never happened. Driving downhill over the bridge you had to hold your breath. For weeks. When I was a kid in Colts Neck we had a septic tank and that is what we smelled when there was an overflow to the ground/surface area. That smell. I was close to calling the Mayor's office or NJAW but I imagined the conversation would be like, 'So it smells horrible? It's a water treatment facility, go back to your life.' click... but I did wonder if that the unbelievable and unusually widespread toxic odor was a red flag of something else.

Why was the sprinkle system on at the soccer fields last evening in Tinton Falls when the town sent out an alert about nonessential use of water?

I went to Middletown North and got a gallon jug of water. They have tanks set up and you can bring your empty containers and refill

Aren't portions of Aberdeen sharing the Matawan water supply?

When we are a couple of days late with our $40 water bill, we get harassing reminder calls every few hours. Here's an idea: Fire those people (who probably are being employed at min. wage without benefits) and spend that money on basic infrastructure like—oh, I don't know—water mains you can SEE need to be maintained better. If American Water can't live up to its name, how about just calling itself Water? Wait, I suppose that would be false advertising.

The updated article states that the problem first occurred at 12:45 pm yesterday.

We received our first reverse 911 call from Holmdel at about 7:45 pm.

The time-lag meant that we used ice cubes and made coffee with potentially tainted water. I understand "the fog of war", but in a potential public health crisis, the Town has to do a better job of getting the word out faster.

UPDATE - Shorelands - by robo call to us and per their website advises that they have no "boil alert" because they're using an independent treatment facility separate from JAWC. But County-wide water usage restrictions will still apply to Shoreland customers.

I live in Northern Holmdel. Though I remain a bit leery of drinking the tap water (it's part of my DNA), it looks like we're off the hook boiling-wise.

A little perspective on the issue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/us/15water.html?pagewanted=all

This a reply to RCPhotos comment above with some additional info. Contaminated water does not in and of itself damage the system. The cause for the boil water alert is is the open/broken pipe. When water leaves the treatment plant it has been disinfected and is potable. There is residual chlorine in the system to kill any bacteria that may inadvertently enter the line. When a pipe is broken, standard procedure mandates that water be boiled. The concern from an open line water break is Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Both of these bacteria if ingested will cause stomach/intestinal distress and can be dangerous. Both of these bacteria are killed when water is boiled. Because this was an elevated open pipe break the likelihood of Crypto and Giardia entering the line is much less then if the pipes were laying in dirt and brackish water. The boil water alert is precautionary and standard. Dishes washed in the dishwater and heat dried will be fine. Laundry washed and dried in the dryer will be fine. Showering is also fine. Anything that goes in your mouth use bottled or boiled water. When the repair is fixed I expect there will be air in the pipes and we may need to just "run the water" a bit to clear any sediment.

As for the interconnectedness of the water systems and water restrictions: The interconnectedness is done so that essential water service can be maintained in times such as these. Water entities borrow resources from each other. This is all controlled by valves and operators. The water restrictions are in place to maintain existing pressure and because other water entities don't really want to have to water NJAW lawns etc (and rightfully so).I feel it's much less inconvenient to have to boil water then to not have any water service at all.This won't last forever - so in the meantime please let's check on our elderly neighbors and make sure they are okay; they might not understand or have heard about all of the restrictions.

i just drove by the site at 2:30pm saturday and there were 4 guys working on some new piping .... that's right 4 guys... think some new management is in order after this one... maybe some upper level early retirements would be appropriate .... drive by and you can see for yourself the urgency... come on guys ...put a better show for your customers... maybe some white shirt engineer types walking around would look good for us.... i really think there should be maybe 30 guys doing something at site or maybe shut down swimming river road so we can't see what is going on.... oh another thing i stopped by high school south for the free water and its a model of efficency....6 to 8 people taking car after car in and out in 3 minutes.... maybe they have the work force reversed !!!!!!!

That bridge was in terrible condition. I noticed a few days ago that the railings were mangled and sticking straight up in the air! I am sure it was becase of Hurricane Irene and maybe even that earthquake last year. I recall thinking as I drove by- I could not believe that it was not repaired. Sad state of affairs we are in. Before we all go looking for our reidiculous $27 tax breaks ala CC maybe our govt had better start taking care of the infrastructures or at least be hounding companies that are supposed to be maintaining them. Mondays legislative meeting better get our politicians starting to cooperate and get on with looking out for us- NJ citizens! Stop the showboating. Now is the time for all elected men and women to lead. Who cares about mergers and tenure DO YOUR JOBS!

It's easy for people to get confused in situations like this because there are several things going on at once.

We can't blame NJAW for 'ignoring' damage that Irene may have caused, because they did hire a consultant to inspect it after Irene. Maybe there was corrosion or rot or vandalism after that, or maybe their consultant just wasn't very good, but whatever the reason, neglect of Irene by NJAW wasn't it.

It's easy to mix up the water restriction order with the boil-water order, too, because they're not well explained either.

Before the break the treatment plant was pumping out probably 35 - 45 million gallons of water per day. The break shut them down. So where do their customers get their water now? From neighboring utilities, through interconnecting valves with NJAW. But there's no way they can make up the difference unless all their customers conserve too. Thus, the whole county, even people who think they're completely separate from NJAW, needs to conserve, for the sake of hospitals, firefighting, day-care centers, etc. in the whole area. It has nothing to do with their water's safety, just the overall supply shortage.
The Boil-Water order comes about when the water pressure drops in your neighborhood supply pipes. Without inside pressure, ground water around the underground pipes could seep in, and bring harmful bacteria with it. You can kill off this bacteria, if it happens to be present, by boiling your water (if you have any, of course). Since you can't tell just by looking at the water whether these bacteria are present, it's prudent to put out a Boil Water order to any neighborhood that experienced low pressure. This wouldn't affect the neighboring communities like the Conservation order would, because they didn't get the low-pressure event.

As long as we're still at it, just one more point - we can't tell how hard NJAW is working on getting this going, because we don't know where the work is taking place. Counting the number of people walking around Swimming River Road probably isn't a real good measure. The first task will be to get temporary pipes and pumps installed somewhere, to feed the treatment plant with reservoir water again. That could be happening at an entirely different location from where the break happened. We may not see activity at the break until they get permanent replacement pipes in from who knows where, and fix the supporting bridge as well. For my money, I would rather see them focus on the immediate need of bringing the water supply back up a.s.a.p. and do the permanent repair after we've all got our showers and toilets back.

Got a call today around 3 pm, holmder. I wasnt home what was it about?

I don't know if Aberdeen uses robocalling, but perhaps it needs to be more persistent. I was home maybe an hour and a half yesterday and heard nothing. Phone never rang. These days not everyone works a 9-5 Monday to Friday, they need to keep that in mind.

Aberdeen - Matawan CERT team members were invited to sign up for shifts handing out water at Middletown High School North. When I arrived there yesterday there were volunteers from the Middletown community, other community CERT volunteers, and several employees from NJ American Water company. These were wonderful people. We simply handed out cases of water into open car windows and kept the line moving. Most of the water I gave out was contributed by Shop Rite, but I noticed other boxes with jugs of water, as well as the large water distribution trucks another reader mentioned. The heads of households, families, neighbors and friends driving through for their water were gracious and thankful.
With the storms that hit last night from the east coast into Ohio, the new day brings with it many more challenges of rain, fire, heat and humidity. A wonderful woman I know from church is still trying to reach her son, whose neighborhood is cut off from all land and wireless communications. I suspect that the good folks of Monmouth County appreciate quite well that things could be much worse.
I thank God for the blessings of community, and the generosity that begets generosity. My prayers are with our communities both local and to the south Jersey shore, whose fuller needs will only be revealed as we get more eyes on the ground.

Just picked up my water.
Going back tomorrow and the next day and ...

Indeed, social media beat all the town robo calls. We had an employee from Belmar get a robo call at 6:30 pm on Friday -- that their water was fine. All the the early notifications didn't mention what towns were covered, and frankly in our busy lives not all of us know the name of our water company.

That parkway notification -- with no towns listed -- simply added to the panic.

KEANSBURG:

According to their website, http://www.keansburgboro.com/, Keansburg is not affected by the water ban... I copied the info off their page...

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE
ABOUT YOUR WATER QUALITY
UPDATED June 30, 2012

Keansburg IS NOT
effected by the
NJAmerican Water Company
water main failure.

Keansburg's water supply is
from the Borough Wells
which are NOT effected
by the water emergency and restrictions being experienced in neighboring communites.

Keansburg residents DO NOT
have to boil water at this time.