CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia American Water Company has launched an interactive customer advisory map on its website, that shows water service disruptions, planned service outages or boil water advisories within certain areas.
The Customer Advisory Map can be found in the Alerts section of the West Virginia American Water (WVAWC) website. Customers now have the ability to search by service address or residence to determine if they are located within an alert area.
Customers can also view additional information such as the estimated time of restoration and steps to take when under an advisory.
Megan Hannah, Senior Manager, Government and External Affairs told MetroNews that customers have requested a map similar to what electric utility companies use.
“All the information that is on the map is information that has been available to our customers but never in such a way that is so easy for our customers to be able to search by their address to determine if they are in an area of a boil order advisory or an outage,” Hannah said.
Hannah said launching the map is part of the company’s way to improve its customer system for alerts, making it more user-friendly. WVAWC has recently upgraded its customer dashboard with new tools to check and schedule service.
“If you see water going down your street on your neighborhood or if you turn on a faucet and water is not coming through, you can easiliy go online and report those outages rather than calling the 800 number and maybe waiting on hold for a period of time,” Hannah said.
VIEW: WVAWC customer advisory map
WVAWC said its customers are encouraged to log onto MyWater and update their account information, allowing the company to reach them as needed for any updates specifically related to their property.
“We are committed to providing exceptional customer service and are continually seeking ways to improve our communication around outages and advisories,” said Chris Carew, vice president of Operations at West Virginia American Water in a release.
“This customer advisory map is a helpful tool that allows customers to view events happening in their area that may impact their water service.”
Hannah said a person does not have to be a customer to access the map. She said parties such as landlords and media outlets have access to information to push it out.