Kentucky American Water Company has attributed several water main breaks yesterday and today to the extremely cold weather which hit Owen County. A major break in the middle of Owenton was repaired late on Tuesday and two more breaks on Wednesday are reportedly repaired, according to the Owen County Facebook page.
However, many parts of the county are still without any water at all, and while efforts to address drinking water concerns have so far included a boil water advisory and promises to provide free bottle water at some specified locations larger more emergency circumstances are looming.
Owen County is home to thousands of head of livestock which are finding natural sources of water such as ponds, creeks and springs, frozen solid. Water for these larger livestock herds is now unavailable putting them at serious risk.
In addition business disruptions due to lack of water have continued for two days now with no clear indication of when water will once again be flowing. In a fragile economy this problem could have serious consequences for small businesses. Restaurants and grocery stores unable to open cannot rotate stock and may lose food due to expiration. The schools are closed, industries are closed and paychecks are being affected.
In addition residential customers are not only inconvenienced by the lack of drinking water but are unable to flush toilets, take showers, clean clothing, clean dishes and provide basic home hygiene. This is particularly hard on families with small babies and those at the local hospital and nursing facilities.
While Kentucky American is, according to their reports, merely waiting for the water tanks to refill, demand for water by customers across the board is apparently draining what water is being put into those tanks faster than they can fill them.
Citizens have been advised to not use any water at all until the tanks are filled but a call to the local office reveals that there is no predictable time frame in which restoration of normal water service can be guaranteed.
It is quite clear that the Owen County water outage may soon become a health emergency among the general population and a serious risk to the lives and well being of the county's substantial livestock population, and God forbid there is a fire in this relatively remote rural community. Tankers of water from surrounding areas would hardly arrive in time to save much.
Considering that Kentucky American certainly has flow meters that can measure the progress at their tanks one would think a better prediction would be forthcoming, at least enough to allow people to make alternate plans if the delays are going to extend beyond a few hours. It has already been two days, and now they say, they do not know when the end will be in sight.
This is what we get for letting a foreign company run such a vital resource! The water should have stayed in the hands of the county!
Posted by: connie | January 08, 2014 at 08:01 PM