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Berlin, Ocean Pines News Worcester County Bayside Gazette Logo Berlin, Ocean Pines News Worcester County Bayside Gazette

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Water interruption, Wed., cut nursery school classes short

(Feb. 16, 2017) Parents and caregivers had to scramble last Wednesday as the Snow Hill Christian Nursery School, the largest daycare facility in town, had to close early because of an interruption in water service.
Wendy Kemmet, director of the school, said state law forbids a child care facility to remain open longer than 30 minutes without water service.
The school, just north of town, does not use municipal water or sewer.
“Comcast, for years, has been trying to sell us Internet access, but wanted us to pay to install the lines,” Kemmet said. “Finally, they were installing lines underground,” that the center wouldn’t have to pay for.
During that work, the installers severed the power line running from the school’s well to the junction box, interrupting the pump from doing its job, Kemmet said.
She said the installers used a locator service to determine where the other utility lines serving the building were, but they missed one.
“The state doesn’t require electric or heat,” she said. “But we have a separate generator for that anyway — we’re not going to be without electric or heat.”
The water is a different story.
Shortly before 2 p.m. on Wednesday, the school sent an emergency text-message notifying parents the school needed to close at 3 p.m. because of an interruption in water service.
The text also alerted guardians that the afterschool program was canceled, and the bus service that normally delivers students to the afterschool program was interrupted.
Parents used to picking up their children from the nursery school around 5 p.m. had to pick up their children from the elementary school at 3 p.m. instead.
“The problem was fixed that very same day. It was great that they took care of it so quickly,” Kemmet said.