Residents Concerned About Leaking Water Tower In Maud

The small city of Maud has itself a big problem. A big, 104 foot tall, ice-covered problem.

The town’s nearly 90-year-old water tower has sprung a leak, and this recent cold snap has turned the side of it into one big icicle. 

"I took my son and my nephew to look at it because it's been freezing over for a couple of days," said Maud resident, Billy Kiser.

Sure it is cool to look at, but there are some serious concerns. The leak is dumping about 30,000 gallons of water a day. That’s leading to a drop in water pressure in town and concerns over whether firefighters will have enough if there’s an emergency. 

"Yeah that is a big concern,” said resident Wesley Diedrich. “It would actually take longer for them to actually react to the fire and stuff because they'd probably have to use an outside town [water source] or something."

Maud City Clerk Dave Zeller agrees. 

“That is an issue,” Zeller said. “We've got a pretty good plan for that. Working with rural water district. They've allowed us if we need to we can get water from them plus we also have mutual aid agreements with the fire departments in surrounding towns."

The city, meanwhile, is running all its pumps around the clock to try keep water pressure up until the hole can be patched. 

"What they're going to have to do is go in and plate about a six-foot diameter right there in the bottom of the tank that's rusted out and then reconnect the riser pipe. It's about a $26,000 fix, but that's what we're looking at," Zeller said.

City leaders tell News 9 they believe they'll have the water tower fixed in the next two weeks.