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Water leak disrupts entire town
Nevada Daily Mail
It is easy to take something for granted that is always present, like going to the kitchen sink and filling a glass with clean, safe water when you need a drink.
Wednesday night Nevada residents found they could not avail themselves of a drink from a faucet, when first the water pressure dropped in some places to near zero, and they were advised by the city and Alliance Water Resources they should not drink water from the city's water supply unless they boiled it first until the city announces the results of tests.
According to a press release from the city of Nevada and Alliance Water Resources, about 8 p.m., Wednesday, the city had a water main break in the southeast part of town, that drained the city's two operating water towers and dropped water pressure below 20 pounds per square inch. "The Missouri Department of Natural Resources requires water systems to maintain pressure at 20 PSI. If the pressure dips below 20 PSI a boil order is required."
Eric McPeak, Alliance Water Resources local manager said Thursday that the city's third water tower is currently not in use due to maintenance being performed.
McPeak said that when they saw on their instruments the water level in the towers was rapidly dropping, Alliance crews, as well as city workers began looking for the leak.
He said they knew the leak had to be in a 10- or 12-inch water main, to drop the water level so rapidly, and those water mains were where workers concentrated their efforts to find the leak.
Unfortunately, their usual technique of locating a leak by looking for wet spots, or standing or flowing water in streets, was thwarted by the rain that started about 8.
"It was a perfect storm," McPeak said.
He said they eventually located the leak by turning off various sections of the city to see if the water level in the towers would begin to rise.
There is a large water main that runs from the water treatment plant on West Cherry Street directly to the center water tower on Commercial Street.
By shutting off the water going to different water mains, at this tower, crews were able to isolate the leak in the southeast part of Nevada.
"When we turned off those mains to that part of town we began to see the water level in the water tower begin to slowly rise," he said.
They continued to shut off more water valves, as they narrowed the location of the leak.
McPeak said they turned off about 30 valves to narrow the search.
He said they finally located the leak in a field along the south side of East Maple Street, just east of the railroad track crossing, about 12:45 a.m. Water from the leak flowed through the field towards a stream farther south.
McPeak said that he thinks most of the water soaked into the ground before it reached the stream.
He said he wanted to clarify the difference between the boil advisory issued by the city and a boil order.
A boil advisory is issued by the local government when the pressure in a water main drops below 20 PSI, which raises the possibility of something getting into the water system. Once the leak is repaired and the water pressure goes back to normal, and the residual chlorine levels stabilize, water samples are taken, and 24-hours later Alliance and the city will know if any bacteria were present in the water.
McPeak said they took water samples for testing about 9 a.m. Thursday, and should have the results by mid-morning Friday.
He said a boil order is issued only by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources when a contaminant is found in the water supply.