Red Rose opens for takeout amid businesses closing due to water main break

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - One popular Springfield restaurant is closing its dining room doors on Wednesday as the city remains in a boil water order.

That order, following a water main break on Saint James Ave in Springfield that left people in Springfield, Ludlow, and other nearby communities without water for much of the afternoon on Tuesday.

The break caused water pressure to drop significantly and spilled upwards of ten million gallons of water.

Despite the hassle, the situation caused for many, it didn’t stop Red Rose Pizzeria from opening its doors on Wednesday but, in a modified way.

“We made the executive decision to just open for takeout. It works out well because all the pizza dough was made yesterday morning, which was a pre-water main break. and everything we do for pastas and stuff like that, you have to boil the water,” said Rita Caputo-Capua.

Caputo-Capua, the pizzeria’s manager told Western Mass News the decision to keep the restaurant doors open was a no-brainer.

“Being in this business my whole life, even over the years we’ve always opened in the worst snow storms, the red rose has always been open. in every worst-case scenario with the weather, we’ve always at least tried to open because people have to eat!” said Caputo-Capua.

Aside from local restaurants, city leaders also stepped in to help out.

“We are pleased that our team has come together to develop a strategy. we want to make sure that all of our residents have good health and can move through this safely,” said Helen Caulton-Harris of the Springfield Health and Human Service Commission.

At various senior centers and other locations throughout the city, bottled water was made available to residents.

“We’re early into the distribution at this point. We’ve given out maybe a dozen or so cases of water. We expect it to pick up as word gets out that folks are coming by and in need of water,” said Anthony Pouliot.

Pouliot, an outreach worker with Springfield Elders affairs, says this could go a long way in helping local families.

“We just want to make sure that, you know, everybody in Springfield is taken care of and we’re going to have a case available for every Springfield citizen here at the Jordan Center,” said Pouliot.

Tomorrow morning, health officials are expected to get the results back from testing they completed on water samples yesterday. This means if all goes well, we could see the order lifted as soon as tomorrow. In the meantime, health officials are urging people to either use bottled water or boil water before drinking or cooking with it.

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