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.
Local News
Well almost back serving Carterville
- Local News
-
-
City wants to buy weather radios for those without
Phil Jones had been working on a construction project outside his house all day on May 22 and was unaware that a tornado watch had been issued. Once he was inside, though, his weather radio went off, and he learned that a warning had been issued.
-
Architects present preliminary JHS plans at community meeting
Reaction appeared mostly supportive Thursday night among the roughly 50 people who attended a community meeting at which architects presented their preliminary site plans for the future combined Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center.
-
Confessed shooter testifies against co-defendants in Pittsburg murder case
Rickey Smith testified Thursday that as he came in the back door of Ryan Bailey’s home in Pittsburg with a 9 mm pistol in his hand, Bailey looked up from the couch in his living room.
-
School district’s proposed street-closing plan questioned
Plans to close some streets near the proposed Joplin High School drew questions, including a challenge from a former Joplin mayor, during a public hearing this week.
-
Neosho council approves new golf cart contract
The purchase of golf carts was back on the agenda this week for the Neosho City Council. City Attorney Steve Hays said there were errors in the financing terms that were part of a bid approved last month for the purchase of 55 gas-powered carts from E-Z-Go for $144,195, so the purchase of a new fleet was rebid.
-
Mike Pound: Spirit of competition evident during double-overtime game
When I played basketball in high school, I played in several very close games.
Now, some people who may have known me in high school are probably laughing right now and saying, “What Mike meant to say is that when he was in high school, he came very close to playing in some games.” -
Mo. optometrist filed $40 million refund claim
A southwest Missouri optometrist who filed a tax return claiming a $40 million refund has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison.
-
Okla. receives waiver from No Child Left Behind
Oklahoma’s top education official reacted with glee Thursday with the announcement that the state is one of 10 states being granted a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law that requires students be proficient in reading and math by 2014 — but focused on getting students to “just pass the tests.”
-
Kan. House approves bipartisan redistricting bill
Power in the Kansas House is likely to shift next year from rural parts of the state to the Kansas City area after members overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill Thursday for redrawing their districts.
-
Fugitive in 1993 British heist arrested in Ozark
A man suspected of stealing about $1.5 million from a security van in England in 1993 has been arrested in southwest Missouri.
- More Local News Headlines
-






