Marion water customers had low or no pressure across the city on Wednesday, Sept. 16, after a 10-inch water main broke near the Rice Creek area along Alabama Highway 14, and a boil water advisory issued that day stayed in place until Monday evening, Sept. 21, according to notices the City of Marion and Mayor Dexter Hinton posted on Facebook.
The city’s first notice, posted about 6:30 a.m. Sept. 16, said the city was experiencing low or no water pressure citywide, that service was beginning to return in some areas and that pressure might stay low as the system stabilized. The city’s all-call notification system was unavailable, the notice said, and it asked residents, businesses, schools, churches, medical facilities and community organizations to help spread the word.
In a letter to citizens posted about 7 a.m., Hinton wrote that city personnel were assessing the system and working to restore normal pressure, and that he had called an emergency meeting of the City Council and water department personnel for 4 p.m. that day in the council chambers at City Hall “to review the findings, receive updates from water personnel, and discuss the actions necessary to address the current situation.”
He apologized “to our citizens and community partners for the disruption this is causing.”
About two hours later the mayor posted that water personnel had located the source of the problem, a 10-inch water main break near the Rice Creek area along Highway 14, and that the city’s water crew was making repairs.
On Friday, Sept. 18, Sowing Seeds of Hope distributed bottled water to City of Marion water customers behind its building, with thanks to state Sen. Robert Stewart, the organization posted. Customers had to show a City of Marion water bill to be served; the truck delivering the water was delayed, and distribution began at 4 p.m.
The city announced about 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, that the boil water advisory issued Sept. 16 had been lifted. Repairs were complete and the required water quality testing showed the water meets state and federal drinking water standards and is safe for normal consumption, the notice said.
Testing results were to be available at City Hall beginning Tuesday, Sept. 22, and posted on the city’s bulletin board.
In a separate post Monday afternoon, Hinton wrote that an assessment of the city’s water and sewer system estimated the cost of the overhaul the system needs at about $40 million, $20 million each for water and sewer, with the largest cost in replacing water and sewer lines under the roads.
The city had been awarded, and had completed or was completing, about $7.5 million of work during his tenure, he wrote, with additional funding applications submitted. A later version of the post described the system as more than 100 years old.
The break came two weeks after the city warned customers on Sept. 2 that pressure might be low citywide while telemetry equipment for the water system was installed and upgraded at the Washington Street site.
