Marion imposes conservation after halting pumping from tainted reservoir
A day after correcting a wrong impression about how long Marion had continued to use reservoir water during the ongoing algae scare, City Administrator David Mayfield received broad authority Monday to close the city swimming pool, ration water, close car washes and coin laundries, and prevent most new connections to the city's water system.
Marion City Commission also approved spending $10,562 for new pumps to bring water from the city's backup water source in Luta Creek.
A temporary pump employed there since June 11 has proved unable to keep up with demand and forced the city to truck additional water from Marion County Lake.
The impression that Marion's water treatment plant had relied on stored water and never taken in potentially tainted water from Marion Reservoir early in the crisis was dealt a blow Sunday when Mayfield told a reporter that he was sorry for mistakenly stating that Marion had not been using reservoir water June 10 and 11.
"I certainly did not mean to mislead anyone," Mayfield told the reporter. "I'm sorry."
Subsequent to Mayfield's apology, a check of Marion waterworks records revealed not only that Marion had been drawing reservoir water on those days but also that Marion drew reservoir water at a virtually uninterrupted pace throughout Chingawassa Days, June 6 through 8, immediately after the initial anabaena bloom was noted.
Hillsboro's water plant, which provides water for Hillsboro and Peabody, stopped taking reservoir water June 6 and has continued to truck water from McPherson and a rural water district since.
In previous statements to several news organizations, Mayfield was quoted as emphasizing that Marion had plenty of water stored June 6, did not need to resume taking reservoir water until June 8 or 9, and had resumed using reservoir water June 8, after the initial algae bloom had dissipated.
However, according to waterworks records requested from Marion Public Works Superintendent Harvey Sanders, Marion continued to draw reservoir water in large quantities every day until June 11.
According to those records, these amounts of water were taken after the anabaena blooms:
Friday, June 6 — 220,000 gallons
Saturday, June 7 — 126,000 gallons
Sunday, June 8 — 320,000 gallons
Monday, June 9 — 309,000 gallons
Tuesday, June 10 — 277,000 gallons
Wednesday, June 11 — 214,000 gallons
According to Sanders' records, Marion ceased withdrawing reservoir water at 1 p.m. June 11, five days after Hillsboro stopped using reservoir water. Neither waterworks has used reservoir water since then.
Soon after Marion began augmenting its water supply with Luta Creek water at 6 a.m. June 12, it became obvious the waterworks could not keep up with demand.
A temporary pump and four-inch hose could handle only 380 gallons a minute. The city's normal reservoir hookup, when operating, can handle 600 gallons a minute. The water plant currently operates 14 to 15 hours a day, meaning the temporary connection could handle at most 342,000 gallons daily. Despite pleas for voluntary conservation, Marion's waterworks distributed even more water than usual — almost the total amount capable of being drawn from Luta Creek — on the first day of voluntary conservation.
According to Sanders' records, these amounts of processed water were distributed last week: Thursday, June 12 — 338,000 gallons.
Friday, June 13 — 319,000 gallons, of which actual demand was 279,000 gallons.
Saturday, June 14 — 254,000 gallons.
Mayfield noted Sunday that demand had been declining steadily. He said he thought people might have been stocking up on tap water the first day after the city stopped drawing water from Marion Reservoir.
"But I'm still going to ask the city commission Monday to pass the resolution allowing implementation of our emergency water conservation ordinance," he said.
Mayfield said Sunday that he did not plan to implement mandatory conservation unless necessary.
"We have to have something in place so that if the trucks break down, if the pipes break down, we have a back-up plan," he said.
On Monday, however, when the resolution was adopted, several mandatory conservation measures were immediately placed in effect, according to City Attorney Dan Baldwin.
Now banned in Marion are:
— Sprinkling of water on lawns, shrubs, or trees, including golf courses.
— Washing automobiles.
— Use of water in swimming pools (including the city pool), fountains and evaporative air-conditioning systems.
— Waste of water.
The new rules also instruct Mayfield to:
— Suspend new connections to the city's water distribution system, except connections of fire hydrants and connections made pursuant to agreements entered into by the city before the emergency was declared.
— Restrict sales of water to coin-operated car washes and laundries.
— Impose water rationing based on "any reasonable formula including, but not limited to, the percentage of normal use and per-capita or per-consumer restrictions."
The ordinance includes provisions for penalties, including disconnection of service, for non-compliance. It even allows for termination of water service to all customers if any properly authorized city official determines termination of service is required to protect public health and safety.
Mayfield said he hoped that by next Monday the city would be able to deactivate the ordinance and rescind its provisions.
Activating the ordinance does not mean that the city wants to put anyone out of business.
"That's not our goal," Mayfield said.
He said state emergency management officials had made it clear to him "the state will not help Marion if we don't go to mandatory conservation measures."
Earlier, Mayfield emphasized that water now being supplied from the Marion waterworks was safe.
"Our microbiologist told us [Luta] Creek is an OK source for drinking water," Mayfield said. "It has flowing water, so there's no opportunity for (anabaena) algae to grow. Marion County Lake water has been found to be OK, too."
As for reservoir water, Mayfield said he was awaiting the results of a toxicology report.
"It's quite a process," he said. "The bottom line is, we don't know yet. But my main concern is getting water into our plant. The water we're distributing is good. People don't need to drink bottled water."
Although Marion had retained the legal rights to use it, the Luta Creek water source being used this week was rigged as a temporary measure. The two new four-inch electric pumps, including installation and accessories, purchased Monday from JCI Industries Inc. of Wichita, will create what Mayfield termed "a turnkey, permanent operation" that will allow the city to instantly switch from reservoir water to Luta Creek water in the future.
"We would only have to turn a valve at the plant and activate these pumps and this will be a permanent fixture," he said.
Before the meeting, Mayfield expressed gratitude for the efforts of municipal employees in dealing with the water crisis.
"I'm so proud of these city workers — all of them," he said. It took only 2 1/2 hours for city workers to distribute to all homes in Marion a memo about the water situation and how the city was not drawing water from the reservoir, he said.
"The girls here in the city offices, the police department, the water department — everyone did a fine job for us," he said. "The city attorney spent about three hours drawing up a permit to submit to the state
The city now has permission to draw 50,000 gallons a day from the county lake through the end of the year.
He also thanked Shelley Abbott-Becker, Marion County director of emergency communications, for seeing that water workers had enough storage and transportation containers to facilitate transfers from the county lake. The Hillsboro and Lincolnville fire departments also lent Marion containers.
