Water Woes Continue - Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29

If you're in Camden, you may still need to boil your water before you drink it.  A pressure problem from open fire hydrants put people and businesses in a tough spot on another scorching hot day.  The River Sharks, Camden's minor league baseball team, had to cancel Thursday night's game.  Lucky for the team, they've got away games scheduled for the next week.  No such luck for other nearby businesses.

An open hydrant on a hot summer day may be irresistible. But in Camden this week, too many people in too many neighborhoods did it to stay cool.  As a result, water pressure and levels dropped below what was safe, and so Adventure Aquarium found itself in an ironic position.  The aquarium's executive director, Kevin Keppel, agreed. "That's what we said. It's classic, water water everywhere but not enough to drink."

The Delaware River sits right out front. And of course the aquarium itself holds millions of gallons of water. Yet it still had to truck in 22,000 gallons of potable water.  "Actually the biggest users of some of our animals of our water are not our fish," Keppel explained.  "We have animals like hippos and seals and penguins that actually, they have to drink, unlike fish."  No question the penguins appreciated the effort, as they frolicked under a cool mist.

With an order to boil water still in effect Friday, water trucks poured into Camden. Over at Cooper University Hospital, a tanker supplied a safe source of water. The hospital also brought in truckloads of bottles for patients. Officials there say patient care was not affected. Restaurants also scrambled to stay afloat.  Every business in the affected area suffered to some extent, even if only with their bathrooms.  "At one point we had two sets closed," Keppel said.  "And we actually had just one set closed, and now we actually just re-opened all of them."

The order remained in effect as a safety precaution Friday night, even though water levels and pressure have gone back up.  This is for neighborhoods west of the Cooper River.  Boiling the water will kill any bacteria that may still be present.