Citizens encouraged to prepare
UPDATE: On Friday at 1:36 p.m., the city of Lampasas rescinded the boil water notice for Lampasas water users.
On Friday at 11:18 a.m., Kempner Water Supply Corporation officials issued a statement to answer questions received following the second line leak this week.
“We have been receiving a lot of questions and would just like to answer a few of the most common ones,” officials said. “Our transmission lines are steel pipes encased in concrete and vary from 16”-30” in diameter. The PSI (pressure per square inch) is generally 150 PSI or higher but can vary depending on the location. The area we are working on is down in a creek bed and around 12’ in the ground. These pipes have been covered and encased by at least 12’ of dirt since they were installed back in 1978. When you begin digging, you begin disturbing that concrete line, and if you haven’t valved off the water you run the risk of that concrete line breaking and hurting your crew with high pressure water; everything must be well thought out and prepared for. These conditions make it difficult to do preventative maintenance on the transmission lines, there simply is no such thing.”
KWSC officials said they met with City of Lampasas officials on Thursday afternoon to plan the repair and give the city enough time to refill storage tanks before the repair requires another shut-off.
“It was decided to leave the pipe alone through the weekend, allowing KWSC members and Lampasas to recover as well as giving the welders and all crews the advance notice to be present with all the parts necessary to complete the work in a timely manner,” KWSC officials said. “Anytime we can give you advance notice; we prefer to do so because we understand you have families and livestock that depend on the water. Please fill your troughs and top them off throughout the weekend in preparation for water service interruption on Monday morning.”
Officials reminded the public that the situation could worsen over the weekend.
“To be clear, even though these steps have been taken and plans have been put in place, sometimes things don’t go according to plan. This leak is in a vulnerable spot and could rupture the line at any point before Monday. We are monitoring the situation very closely and will keep you all updated,” the statement read.
A boil water notice is still in effect Kempner and Lampasas residents affected by the Tuesday main line leak. KWSC officials said the notice could be rescinded as early as Wednesday, Oct. 30.
Kempner Water Supply Corporation has announced another water shut off will take place on Monday, as a second leak has been discovered on the same main line within a week.
KWSC officials issued a notice at 3:48 p.m. on Thursday warning water customers that another shut off is required to conduct a second repair.
“We have a secondary leak on the concrete line near the recent repair point. Unfortunately, the water will have to be valved off to facilitate the repair. Currently, the plan is for repairs to begin Monday morning at 7 a.m. and continue throughout the day until at least 6 p.m.,” officials said.
“We are sending this notification now to allow you all of the time you need to prepare for the care of your families and livestock. Please fill and keep all troughs full as this leak has the potential to become more severe at any point before Monday,” officials stated.
Water users in the Kempner and Lampasas area are still under a boil water notice due to the previous line repair.
KWSC General Manager Bruce Sorenson expects the boil water notice to continue for KWSC customers until next week due the second leak, which was discovered in the same location where the concrete main-line leak was discovered on Tuesday.
“We are going to have to break down here again and probably do some more repair on this valve because we’ve got a slight leak on the valve,” Sorenson said. “The line was repaired but the valve attached that is attached to that line also has a small leak in it.”
KWSC has a welder onsite who is evaluating the concrete valve.
“It could be something as simple as a plug that is leaking on the valve or the valve itself leaking,” he said. “We don’t know that until we depressurize the line and get underneath the concrete that is around the valve. It is a process.”
Monday is a school holiday for Lampasas ISD, meaning the campuses will not have to be closed that day due to the water shut off.
Lampasas water storage tanks are expected to be full Thursday afternoon. Sorenson notes if Lampasas isolates its system, it should have enough water to survive the duration of those repairs.