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MARSHALL'S WATER WOES CONTINUE

By Julie Ball, STAFF WRITER

02/19/00

MARSHALL - Marshall's mayor says the town's water situation is still critical, and he continued to urge residents to conserve water. "We found some overnight, some breaks, but they were small ones," Mayor John Dodson said Friday.

State experts were using leak detection equipment to try to find the source of water line breaks that may be draining water from the system, according to Dodson. The town's reservoirs dropped dramatically this week leaving some residents with no water and prompting the town to declare a state of emergency.

Schools is Madison County remained closed Friday, and the 570 customers on the town water system were advised to boil their water before consuming and to use as little water as possible.

The town has banned car washing and asked residents to put off doing laundry if possible. Volunteers were delivering bottled water to nursing homes, and residents were also picking up water at the fire department.

Dodson said workers were continuing to haul water from Mars Hill to the town's two reservoirs. The reservoir levels were coming up some, he said. By 7:15 p.m. Friday, the water level was up to 56 inches in the main reservoir, which holds one million gallons. The reservoir is 13 feet deep.

The problems started Wednesday when one of three wells used to pump water into the town's reservoirs went dry. The two remaining wells are pumping about half the normal amount to the reservoirs.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Resources tested the water and found it to be safe but residents are still being urged to boil water before using it.

Dodson said town leaders planned to look at three possible sites for new wells Friday. The two working wells are near the one that went dry, and town officials are concerned they could also lose those wells. "There's a very high possibility those could go," Dodson said. "We can't wait."

Town officials don't yet know how much it will cost to drill another well and construct a line to the reservoirs. "It could depend on where the site was," Dodson said.

Call Julie Ball at 232-5851 or e-mail her at JBall@CITIZEN-TIMES.com

http://www.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?20000219_n2.txt&n

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 19, 2000

Answers

Lets send them some cyber-Mt Dew to wet their whistles

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), February 19, 2000.

LOL Butt Nuggett =)

But seriously, it is a concern for the folks there. Hope they get on track real soon.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 19, 2000.