California Army post hasn’t had clean tap water for a week

Troops and families at remote Fort Hunter Liggett on California’s rugged Central Coast have been without clean drinking water in their taps since the evening of Aug. 11, when a routine water system maintenance check went wrong, cracking a valve and rupturing a 12-inch water main.

Officials initially shut off water to the entire post, which is also currently battling a wildfire in a training area, to prevent a catastrophic failure, the garrison’s top enlisted soldier, Command Sgt. Maj. Eric Rupp, said in a Friday phone interview with Army Times.