City ends boil notice for portions of Long Beach

After determining that there had been no health hazards associated with a large water main break earlier this week, the city lifted a boil notice that had been in effect for several Long Beach neighborhoods, city officials announced early Friday.

The water "is safe to drink," city spokesperson Joy Contreras said in a news release Friday.

The water main break at 3502 Orange Avenue on Wednesday, Oct. 9 flooded several Cal Heights streets and led to a "significant water pressure drop" for several Long Beach neighborhoods, which prompted city officials to issue a boil notice "out of an abundance of caution" for residents of California Heights, Bixby Knolls, Los Cerritos and most of North Long Beach, according to Contreras.

The loss of water pressure could have resulted in bacteria entering the drinking water in the affected areas, according to public utilities officials.

Since the break, Long Beach Utilities personnel restored water pressure to the affected neighborhoods and conducted 117 water sample analyses in the areas included in the boil notice, Contreras said in a statement issued Friday.

After finding no health hazards, city officials lifted the boil notice, Contreras said.

The boil notice had been in effect for water customers in the 90805 zip code living east of the 710 Freeway, the 90806 zip code between Orange Avenue and Cherry Avenue, north of Spring Street and between N. Pacific Place and Golden Avenue, north of W. Wardlow Road and South of the 405 and the 90807 zip code.

The notice had affected at least one local business, with Bixby Joe Coffee and Tea on Atlantic Avenue stopping the sale of any drinks until further notice, according to a social media post on Thursday.