By Melissa Dunson
mdunson@joplinglobe.com
CARTERVILLE, Mo. — Carterville’s fire-hose fix to its water problem may be coming to an end.
The only water coming into the city in the last two weeks has been through a bright-yellow, 5-inch fire hose stretched about 1,000 feet from Webb City and into Carterville.
Earlier this year, Carterville’s 8-inch backup waterline was broken accidentally during a $1.9 million Environmental Protection Agency effort to clean up 75 acres of mine waste between Carterville and Webb City. Webb City has been working to replace that line since then, but Carterville Mayor Dale Davenport said he wasn’t that concerned because the city just replaced its primary well pump a year ago.
But on July 30, the pump broke for unknown reasons, leaving the city of Carterville with no water supply.
“That was my fear when the line got tore out, but I thought we didn’t really have a problem because we had just replaced the pump,” Davenport said. “It was a big surprise.”
Davenport said the water level in its tower dipped so low that he called for a boil order. That order was lifted Aug. 4 as levels climbed back up to safe standards.
Davenport said a new pump is being put in and should be up and running by Monday. The broken pump is in Kansas City being examined to see what caused the failure.
Davenport said the situation could have been devastating, with temperatures climbing into the 90s, but with help from the surrounding communities of Webb City and Duenweg, he said not a single resident of Carterville has gone without water.
“It could have been a lot worse, but we got through it by pooling our resources,” he said.
Crews from Webb City and Carterville worked all day and all night figuring out how to get water to Carterville after its well pump went out. The city of Duenweg provided water to the 2,500 to 3,000 residents that rely on Carterville’s supply until the hose from Webb City was ready.
Steve Garrett, city administrator at Webb City, said the city is currently working on the permanent secondary waterline to Carterville to replace the one that was broken in the cleanup project. Davenport thinks it could be finished within the month.
Conservation order
Until Carterville’s water supply is fully restored, Davenport said there is still a water-conservation order in place for the area that includes a ban on filling pools or watering lawns.
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