Water crisis eased by cooperative efforts
The discovery Thursday of the anabaena algae bloom in a 50-yard section of Hillsboro Cove at the Marion Reservoir galvanized officials and employees in both Hillsboro and Peabody.
Emergency measures were put in place at the Hillsboro water plant and water intake was halted. Hillsboro provides treated water to the city of Peabody. The water originally comes from Marion Reservoir.
Currently water is being trucked in from McPherson and Rural Water District #4 just west of Hillsboro. Gorges Dairy of Viola has been providing tank trucks and drivers.
Morgan Marler, senior water treatment technician for the Hillsboro facility, said Sunday that she was pleased with the tremendous cooperation between the cities and the agencies involved.
"The biggest factor for any of us is public safety," she said. "Beyond that, we hope to provide the best service we can with the least amount of disruption to the customers."
Marler said that Hillsboro mayor Delores Dalke and the Hillsboro City Council acted quickly to execute the Hillsboro Water Conservation Ordinance and ordered plant personnel to shut down the pumps that bring raw water from the reservoir to the water plant.
"Once we knew what we were dealing with, it didn't take much to get the suspension order from our governing body," she said. "The Hillsboro council was good to work with. We told them, here are the percentages, here is what the recommendations are, what do you want us to do?"
"They were unanimous in their decision to act on the side of caution and public safety."
Once the pumps were shut down, it was imperative that people in both communities be contacted as quickly as possible to avoid rumor and panic. Of additional concern was the implementation of emergency conservation efforts.
"First, we needed to assure the public that the water in the towers, pipes, and clear wells was safe," Marler said. "And then they needed to know they should be conservative in their water usage."
"We have been pleased with the decrease in the volume of water that has been used in the last several days," she added. "Even with the ball tournaments in Hillsboro and Peabody over the weekend, the decrease has allowed us to more or less hold our own with what we are bringing in by truck. For the most part people in both towns have been cooperative."
City employees in Hillsboro went door to door with notices to alert the public. In Peabody, volunteer fire fighters and EMS personnel got flyers to every household Friday evening. The Peabody city office stayed open Friday night and city employees manned the phones until nearly 8 p.m. answering questions from concerned citizens.
City Clerk Cindy Harms said they didn't have a flood of calls, but they were busy. "No one seemed panicked," she said. "People were calm and reasonable. They asked questions and we had the feeling they would do what they could to conserve."
Harms also noted that she had only one call at home over the weekend.
Marler met with the Peabody City Council at 5:30 Friday evening to explain the problem and how it was going to be handled.
"Randy (Dallke) was very responsive to our concerns from the beginning," she said. "And the council asked good questions at the meeting."
"One thing he (Dallke) said was that it would be a good chance to practice our emergency procedures. He was right on when he said that," she continued. "We were able to see how we collect ourselves in an emergency situation, how we identify our deficits, and how we fix them. We have never had to run through the procedures before so it is a good experience."
"So far," Marler concluded, "we've been able to make the best of a bad situation."
Peabody mayor Randy Dallke also was pleased by the cooperative effort. "The council listened to the facts and we stand behind the Hillsboro decision 100%," he said.
Dallke expressed his gratitude for the extra effort by the city employees, the fire department, EMS people, and the citizens of Peabody.
"There always will be people who complain about any choice that's made," he said. "But most of the people have been helpful and realize that public safety is the number one concern and this (conservation effort) isn't a huge inconvenience."
Peabody fire chief Ronnie Harms stated that Hillsboro officials had assured him there was enough water to handle a fire emergency if one should arise.
There was no indication at press time when the water conservation plan would be lifted and the Hillsboro plant would go back to pumping water from the reservoir.
Lonnie Buller of the Kansas Rural Water Association was at the Hillsboro water plant Monday night and issued this statement, "Until we can get an accurate scientific measure of toxin at the intake structure, I think they are doing the right thing."
Citizens are advised to watch Channel 7 for updates or visit the newspaper web site www.peabodykansas.com. The web site is free to anyone wishing to view updates online. The Peabody City Office (983-2174) also will have updated information.
