Portsmouth Water adds emergency notification system -- be sure to opt in

The Portsmouth Water and Fire District (PWFD) announced today that it has contracted with the Emergency Communications Network (ECN) to provide rapid phone notification of outages or other emergencies to targeted areas or every customer in the water system, and you'll want to check your information before a test this Friday.

Philip Driscoll, Chair of the PWFD Administrative Board, cautioned that phone notification systems are only as good as the database supporting them. The district selected ECN's "CodeRED" system because it allows individuals and businesses to add their own phone numbers directly into the system's database.

"No one should automatically assume his or her phone number is included,” said Driscoll, who urged all individuals and businesses to log onto the Portsmouth Water and Fire District web site at www.portsmouthwater.org and click on the "CodeRED” logo to register phone numbers and email addresses.

Those without Internet access may call the Portsmouth Water and Fire District’s main office at (401) 683-2090, Monday through Friday, (9AM-4PM) to supply their information over the phone. Required information includes first and last name, street address (physical address, no P.O. boxes), city, state, zip code, and primary phone number, additional phone numbers can be entered as well.

And you'll want to do it soon -- the District will be testing the CodeRED System on Friday, July 15th when all known phone numbers associated with District addresses will be called with a test message.

Editorial note: From a press release.