Amid order to not drink tap water, Williams Bay businesses scramble ahead of holiday weekend

WILLIAMS BAY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Labor Day weekend is always hectic for businesses in this small community on Geneva Lake. However, there was extra urgency at the Pier 290 restaurant Friday afternoon.

Williams Bay has been under an order to not drink or cook with tap water from the village's system. Testing from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Wednesday found potentially dangerous levels of nitrite in the water, and officials issued a 'do not drink' order later that night.

F.J. Frazier, COO for Gage Marine, which owns Pier 290 and several other waterfront businesses, said the restaurant closed Thursday to regroup. On Friday, workers scrambled to unload 16,000 bottles of water and eight pallets of ice outside the restaurant.

"We're a seasonal business, you know? We're a tourism town," Frazier said. "Three big holidays are Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day."

After weak Memorial Day weekend sales Frazier blamed on cool weather and a 4th of July weekend hampered by wildfire smoke, Frazier said it was vital for the restaurant to have a strong finish to summer.

That meant swapping out glasses for bottles of water on each table and stacking cases of soft drinks to make up for a fountain machine now out of commission.

At every entry point into this village of about 3,000 people, there was a large blue banner ordering people not to drink the tap water.

Steve Elmore, who directs the drinking and groundwater program for the Wisconsin DNR, said the high nitrite levels are due to a bacteria forming from the presence of ammonia that occurs in Williams Bay's groundwater source.

Elmore said officials did not know how long the nitrite had been present, but said a rough estimate would be about two weeks, noting the role warmer water temperatures play.

Officials tested the water after a child became sick and their symptoms were consistent with nitrite poisoning.

The village began treating the water with additional chlorine Friday, and Elmore said officials will flush out water sources throughout the weekend before another round of testing Tuesday.

"They'll be adding extra chlorine and monitoring that," Elmore said. "And at the same time, flushing water through the system."

Emlore added the problem was limited to the wells serving Williams Bay, so other nearby communities, including Lake Geneva, are not affected by the ban.

"The area served by Williams Bay, it's isolated," Elmore said. "It's these three wells that then serve the community of Williams Bay."

At Pier 290, customers during the lunch hour said they learned about the ban in various ways, including the roadside banners and alerts that went off on their cell phones as they entered the village.

Elmore said infants and pregnant women are most susceptible to nitrite poisoning, which restricts the ability of blood to carry oxygen. One customer, Shelbey Frailey, who was just visiting for lunch, said she was comfortable bringing her four-month-old daughter for the afternoon.

"I feel fine with their precautions," Frailey said. "They said you can have things out of a can or a bottle, so I think that's OK."

Molly Denten said she felt similarly. Visiting from Atlanta but originally from Lake Geneva, she said she was satisfied with the steps businesses were taking.

"It was definitely funny coming here, and they put a bottle of water in front of us, as opposed to a glass of ice water," Denten said. "But I feel safe. It sounds like they're taking all the precautions they can."

Williams Bay officials encouraged people to come to the village's next board meeting Tuesday, where they'll try to answer residents' questions.

A letter from Village President Adam Jaramillo said the short-term remediation process will "take some time with the hope that the order will be lifted within a couple of weeks."

The village authorized spending $100,000 for emergency supplies, including bottled water.

Workers and first responders will hand out cases of bottled water at Williams Bay School between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. every day through Monday. Starting Tuesday, water distribution will slide back to 4 p.m.