Mayes County Water District Grapples With Line Issues

As some rural communities across Green Country deal with failing water lines in frigid temps, one Mayes County water district is dealing with ongoing issues unrelated to the weather. But the cold makes fixing the leaks even tougher.

The pump station in Rural Water District #5 provides water to some of the 1,700 customers in this area, but leaks in the lines that start here are causing the loss of over 10 million gallons a month.

Just last month, this district lost about 60 percent of the water it bought from its provider. That’s more than 12 million gallons. Board member Gene Miller says the problem comes from water lines that keep splitting and causing costly leaks. He says they've had to repair it 18 times in the last nine months.

"When they have the leak, it kind of drains that system and takes a while to pressure it back up and fill the towers back up, so the whole system suffers," said Miller.

When leaks happen, Miller says people who live in the district go without water for hours at a time. Miller says $240,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money allocated by the county will help fix the issue. He says they've found a contractor and are eager to get it fixed, especially to keep crews out of the bitter cold for repairs.

"Worse part is if they had one of those big leaks in this kind of weather, it's tough to be down in the ditch wet and muddy in zero degrees," said Miller.

Miller says they hope to get the line fixed in the next few months.