Posted 11:25 pm Friday, December 07, 2012
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City manager: Overton water safe to drink again
Overton residents can feel safe drinking city water today.
They were asked to boil water earlier this week after a pipe broke in the area.
City Manager Joe Cantu said the community should have boiled water until Thursday evening, but it is now perfectly fine to drink.
“It should still be safe to drink. The water is chlorinated just as it’s been,” he said.
The problems started about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, when a couple on Farm-to-Market Road 850, just east of city limits, saw water gushing out of the ground and reported it, Cantu said.
He said crews responded as quickly as possible, but it was about 5 a.m. before they had all the equipment set up and could begin working on the leak.
They discovered that 10-inch pipes, which feed to the city from wells on the east side of town, had split open.
“It seems like the ground might have shifted … so about six feet of pipe had to be replaced,” Cantu said.
He said workers pumped water out, trying to get to the pipe, and, after obtaining another pump from New London, they were able to keep water out. The pipe was replaced about 1:30 p.m., and water was back in the system between 3 and 5 p.m.
Overton ISD also was back in session Thursday morning. Students were let out at 11 a.m. Wednesday because of the water issues.
Cantu said the same line busted about 15 years ago.
They were asked to boil water earlier this week after a pipe broke in the area.
City Manager Joe Cantu said the community should have boiled water until Thursday evening, but it is now perfectly fine to drink.
“It should still be safe to drink. The water is chlorinated just as it’s been,” he said.
The problems started about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, when a couple on Farm-to-Market Road 850, just east of city limits, saw water gushing out of the ground and reported it, Cantu said.
He said crews responded as quickly as possible, but it was about 5 a.m. before they had all the equipment set up and could begin working on the leak.
They discovered that 10-inch pipes, which feed to the city from wells on the east side of town, had split open.
“It seems like the ground might have shifted … so about six feet of pipe had to be replaced,” Cantu said.
He said workers pumped water out, trying to get to the pipe, and, after obtaining another pump from New London, they were able to keep water out. The pipe was replaced about 1:30 p.m., and water was back in the system between 3 and 5 p.m.
Overton ISD also was back in session Thursday morning. Students were let out at 11 a.m. Wednesday because of the water issues.
Cantu said the same line busted about 15 years ago.
