The Strawn City Council met late Tuesday night in an emergency meeting to declare a State of Emergency concerning a water line blockage between the City of Strawn water treatment plant and Lake Tucker.
Resolution 01-13 was approved which requires Strawn water customers to stop all non-essential water usage. Non-essential uses include filling swimming pools, outdoor watering, washing vehicles or outside of homes. The city council also determined that any business whose primary function involved the use of water shall not operate at this time. This includes laundromats and car washes.
RESOLUTION 01-13 State of Emergency
Although attempts have been made to revive an old water line with the hope of supplying enough water while crews worked on the line, the plan failed. The idea was abandoned when it was found that the old line had several leaks with one of the leaks being in a location that would take several days to repair.
Water department personnel, Dempsey Dorris, said that the trouble seems to have been building for a while. He said he had noticed some problems at the plant for about a month. He had taken corrective measures to resolve these problems but he didn’t realize they were losing pressure to the plant. Dorris said the plant doesn’t have a way to monitor pressure.
Friday at about 4 p.m. the plant quit making water completely. Friday night they realized the problem was between the lake and the water plant. Since then they have been working to find an alternative way to get water to the plant. They have also been working unsuccessfully to try to get the blockage cleared from the line.
The resolution declaring a state of emergency also opened the door for help to come in from the county and the state. County commissioner, Mike Pierce and Palo Pinto County’s emergency management officer, Buddy Harwell, were both at Tuesday night’s meeting. They will be bringing tankers, equipment and manpower to help with the situation.
Wednesday the plan is to bring several tankers in to truck water to the plant. Dorris will be contacting a company in Fort Worth that can bring out a camera with a 4 mile reach that can be threaded into the blocked pipe. Once the location of the blockage is determined, crews will know where to dig to fix the problem.
So far Strawn city employees and Strawn Fire Department volunteers have worked long days to keep enough water on hand to get through this crises without running completely out of water. Kenneth Epperson and his guys from the Gordon water department came to Strawn on Tuesday to lend a hand.
Requests for water conservation from the city brought usage down from 160,000 gallons to 120,000 on Saturday. Sunday usage was down to 80,000 and Monday 90,000 gallons. City secretary, Danny Miller said that there is enough water to make it to noon on Wednesday if everyone continues to conserve. With tankers arriving Wednesday to start transporting water to the plant, the hope is that they will be able to maintain a comfortable amount of water for essential use.
Dorris stated that if the camera feed gets to Strawn and they locate the blockage, it’s possible they could have the line repaired as early as Wednesday afternoon.
The Strawn city council thanks citizens for doing their part in continuing to conserve water.
Resolution 01-13 was approved which requires Strawn water customers to stop all non-essential water usage. Non-essential uses include filling swimming pools, outdoor watering, washing vehicles or outside of homes. The city council also determined that any business whose primary function involved the use of water shall not operate at this time. This includes laundromats and car washes.
RESOLUTION 01-13 State of Emergency
Although attempts have been made to revive an old water line with the hope of supplying enough water while crews worked on the line, the plan failed. The idea was abandoned when it was found that the old line had several leaks with one of the leaks being in a location that would take several days to repair.
Water department personnel, Dempsey Dorris, said that the trouble seems to have been building for a while. He said he had noticed some problems at the plant for about a month. He had taken corrective measures to resolve these problems but he didn’t realize they were losing pressure to the plant. Dorris said the plant doesn’t have a way to monitor pressure.
Friday at about 4 p.m. the plant quit making water completely. Friday night they realized the problem was between the lake and the water plant. Since then they have been working to find an alternative way to get water to the plant. They have also been working unsuccessfully to try to get the blockage cleared from the line.
The resolution declaring a state of emergency also opened the door for help to come in from the county and the state. County commissioner, Mike Pierce and Palo Pinto County’s emergency management officer, Buddy Harwell, were both at Tuesday night’s meeting. They will be bringing tankers, equipment and manpower to help with the situation.
Wednesday the plan is to bring several tankers in to truck water to the plant. Dorris will be contacting a company in Fort Worth that can bring out a camera with a 4 mile reach that can be threaded into the blocked pipe. Once the location of the blockage is determined, crews will know where to dig to fix the problem.
So far Strawn city employees and Strawn Fire Department volunteers have worked long days to keep enough water on hand to get through this crises without running completely out of water. Kenneth Epperson and his guys from the Gordon water department came to Strawn on Tuesday to lend a hand.
Requests for water conservation from the city brought usage down from 160,000 gallons to 120,000 on Saturday. Sunday usage was down to 80,000 and Monday 90,000 gallons. City secretary, Danny Miller said that there is enough water to make it to noon on Wednesday if everyone continues to conserve. With tankers arriving Wednesday to start transporting water to the plant, the hope is that they will be able to maintain a comfortable amount of water for essential use.
Dorris stated that if the camera feed gets to Strawn and they locate the blockage, it’s possible they could have the line repaired as early as Wednesday afternoon.
The Strawn city council thanks citizens for doing their part in continuing to conserve water.
