By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A flicker of the lights for some in Great Bend and a more serious, albeit brief power outage for many more at approximately 9:44 p.m. Monday evening. For city of Great Bend crews, a failed electrical transformer at 8th and Morphy Monday night resulted in a late night restoring water services to residents. Great Bend Public Works Director Jason Cauley said it was a perfect storm that led to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) issuing a boil water advisory for the city's public water system.
"With the power going out the way it did, it didn't go out enough to kick the generators off but it went out enough to mess with some of our electrical systems that prevented some of the wells from kicking on," he said. "Our crews, once we found out we didn't have water, responded as quickly as they possibly could."
Cauley estimates the water disruption lasted 30-40 minutes before city crews were able to manually restore services. He contacted KDHE and the advisory was issued per standard protocol, but Cauley believes the water is safe.
"Any time you lose pressure below 20 pounds, the state automatically sends out a boil order just in case there is a loss in disinfection," he said. "I will say, last night, as soon as we got the wells kicked back on, we checked our chlorine residuals and our disinfection was perfectly normal."
The boil water advisory will remain in effect until tests confirm safe bacteria levels. City crews will collect samples from 15 zones in Great Bend Tuesday and have them tested in Salina. Cauley hopes the boil advisory can be rescinded by Wednesday.
Cauley spoke with the electrical contractor who helped create the backup system to find a fix for future issues.
"This was just a perfect storm," Cauley said. "It was just a situation we've never really experienced before and, hopefully, we'll never experience again."
Cauley said having a water tower would have merely delayed the situation. Though he believes the water to be safe, he advises citizens to follow the KDHE recommendations until the boil water advisory is rescinded.
"I know it took a while to get the water back on, but I feel like we responded relatively quickly and we did a really good job," said Cauley. "I have to really give kudos to my crew for getting out there, spreading out, and making sure those wells got kicked back on."
BOIL WATER ADVISORY
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has issued a boil water advisory for the City of Great Bend public water supply system located in Barton County.
Customers should observe the following precautions until further notice:
- Boil water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation or use bottled water.
- Dispose of ice cubes and do not use ice from a household automatic icemaker.
- If your tap water appears dirty, flush the water lines by letting the water run until it clears.
- Disinfect dishes and other food contact surfaces by immersion for at least one minute in clean tap water that contains one teaspoon of unscented household bleach per gallon of water.
- Water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled. Supervision of children is necessary while bathing so that water is not ingested. Persons with cuts or severe rashes may wish to consult their physicians.
The advisory took effect on Dec. 2 and will remain in effect until the conditions that placed the system at risk of bacterial contamination are resolved. KDHE officials issued the advisory because of a loss of pressure due to an electrical outage. Failure to maintain adequate pressure may result in a loss of chlorine residuals and bacterial contamination.
Regardless of whether the public water supplier or Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) announced a boil water advisory, only KDHE can issue the rescind order following testing at a certified laboratory.
The power went out in parts of Great Bend. As a result, the wells lost power, and the emergency generators did not activate as programed with a loss of pressure to the system. Crews responded to resolve the issue, and water has been restored but the city has been put under a boil advisory. Currently, the city is conducting further investigation into the incident.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact Jason Cauley, Director of Public Works, at 620-793-4150.
For consumer questions, please contact the water system at 620-793-4150 or KDHE at 785-296-5514.