A major water main break on Tuesday which disrupted water service to much of Owen County Kentucky was still causing major problems Thursday morning. According the the county Facebook page the effort to refill the system is being hampered by new leaks in the "spider web" of lines crossing the territory.
"The water system will continue to be filled throughout the evening, so some areas may not regain water service until at least the morning. Why is this the case? The current treatment plant has a pumping capacity of about a million gallons of water per day. As the plant attempted today to fill tanks (the Fairgrounds tank holds approximately half a million gallons of water, for example), as well as a spiderweb of pipes throughout the county, various leaks and breaks throughout the day, prompted by the extreme temperatures, leaked out some of the water trying to fill the system, delaying progress. Crews worked throughout the day to identify and fix leaks/breaks, and the breaks appear to have slowed down, allowing greater progress to be made on restoring water in the system."
This explanation raises a serious question about the ability of Kentucy American Water to respond to an emergency break as happened on Tuesday. Main lines serving customers and pressure tanks extend more than 10 miles beyond the break site. Those lines and tanks hold a lot of water. Where did it go?
If the pumping capacity of the entire system is only 1 million gallons a day how did those lines and tanks stay filled before if one tank near the break holds 1/2 million gallons alone?
Obviously storage of water and pressure to deliver it along with the usage by customers isn't a volume which is being provided by output of the pumping facility. Does the company provide back-flow valves which prevent loss pressure and use of stored water in parts of the system not directly affected by breaks?
Kentucky American built a brand new facility on the Owen/Franklin county line which opened in 2010. According to their announcement the plant can treat 20 million gallons of water per day. But, even though the plant is in Owen County, the water is going elsewhere.
"The controversial $164 million project includes a plant that can treat 20 million gallons of water a day and a 31-mile underground pipeline that carries the water to the northeast edge of Fayette County.
The utility says the plant is expected to meet Lexington's water needs, with restrictions only in the worst droughts, for 20 to 30 years.
The plant started operating Sept. 20. For now, it is treating about 6 million gallons of water a day, said Linda Bridwell, the Kentucky American engineer who was in charge of building the plant and pipeline.
Most of that water is going to the utility's customers in Scott, Bourbon and Harrison counties, and in north Lexington, she said. The rest of Lexington is getting water from treatment plants on the Kentucky River in southeast Fayette County, and on Richmond Road. Those two plants have a combined capacity of 70 million gallons a day." [Kentucky.com]
So why is a plant, sitting in Owen County with a 20 million gallon capacity per day which has been operational since 2010 unable to serve its customers in Owen County allowing a health and hygiene emergency to extend for days due to a single water main break?
These questions deserve answers but more than that, they deserve a solution.
It's an election year in Kentucky and those who want an office need to address these concerns.
It has been two days people, it is not a health and hygiene emergency, not to mention this is why everyone should be prepared for stuff like this and have a back up plan, and not cry about it. On another note somebody should have asked if the plant was going to service Owen county too in 2010, not in 2014 when there is this so called emergency. You have been without water for two days people get real.
Posted by: Kenneth Ball | January 09, 2014 at 02:57 PM