Theodosia officials refute water leak information

Theodosia fire captain Allen Edgington, who also serves on the Theodosia water district board, and Bob Bochert, a trustee on the Theodosia village board and on the Theodosia Area Volunteer Fire Department board, told the Ozark County Times Monday that a Sept. 16 water leak in Theodosia was much more serious than portrayed by water district president Dale Cutbirth when he was quoted in a recent Times article saying it only affected "two or three homes" for "two or three hours."

Edgington said the entire town was without water for several hours and that a boil-water order shoud have been issued. Cutbirth told the Times last week that a boil order was not necessary because the district is on a chlorination system.

"That's absurd," said Edgington. "We had zero water pressure for several hours. There should have been a boil order."

According to Theodosia fire chief Norman Jarrett, many of the water meters do not have backflow preventers, which prevent water from backflowing from homes back into main water lines. Jarrett also said he believes a boil order should have been issued.

But Everett Williams, the certified water operator who was hired by the district to handle the day-to-day operations, said no boil order was necessary.

"A chlorinated water system is not required to issue a boil-water order when a low-pressure occurrence takes place," Williams, who lives at Kimberling City, told the Times Monday. "That's my call to make." Williams said the incident was handled in accordance with Department of Natural Resources rules.

"Every water system in the country will have leaks. It's just something that happens," he said.

Crisis situation

Edgington said the water leak on Sept. 16 was no small thing. In fact, having been without water for several hours and unable to reach Cutbirth, who Edgington said had the only key to the gates at the wellhouse, Edgington was preparing an emergency declaration. He had tried to contact county emergency management director Dave Morrison who also was temporarily out of pocket. "My next step was to cut the locks on the gate," said Edgington. "We were fixing to cut the locks when (Cutbirth) showed up."

Edgington said he was notified of the water leak at 9:18 a.m. and Cutbirth arrived at about 10:45 a.m. He said the leak was pinpointed at 11:45 a.m., and it was fixed at 3:30 p.m.

"This town was without water, and fire protection capabilities were in jeopardy for hours," Edgington said. "That's serious to me."

Background

Theodosia is a village, according to state definition. Trustees are elected by village residents to serve much in the same way a city council serves.

Theodosia is the only town in the county, and one of only a handful in the state, whose water supply is handled by a board other than the village or city in which it is located. The official name of the Theodosia water district is Ozark County Public Water Supply District #1, Edgington said. The water district board is made up of five citizens, president Dale Cutbirth, Edgington, Miles Kronch, Susan Meek and Judy Merrell. The board is chosen by public vote.

According to Missouri law, public water supply district board members are originally appointed by the circuit court and are to be voted on every two years.

Edgington said he thinks the water district should dissolve and that its duties and assets should be absorbed by the village of Theodosia and form one entity. "That can't happen," said Cutbirth. "The DNR won't let it happen."

Ongoing problems

The water district completed major improvements to its system this past summer. The new system was paid for with funds made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The district received a $545,000 low-interest loan and a $1,299,000 grant to construct a new standpipe chlorination system, upgrade pipelines and add a new deep well. Additional $500,000 funding from the Community Development Block Program brought the total to $2,344,000.

But according to Edgington and Bochert, there have been pressure problems on the new system, and none of the hydrants can be used by fire trucks to pump water from in case of a fire. Cutbirth confirmed that the hydrants serve only as flush hydrants and should not be used by fire pumpers to directly pump water from. "We had to use smaller lines. That was what was called for in the engineering plan," said Cutbirth. "If they hook a fire engine up and try to pump water, it would probably collapse these lines." Cutbirth said the water district has notified DNR engineers of the issue, and they are working on a solution.

Williams explained: "This system was never designed for fire protection. We knew that from the beginning. It's designed to provide water to customers."

Cutbirth said there are squabbles going on between the village and the water district and that some of the village representatives are "making a big issue out of it."

The water district issued a news release Tuesday announcing a public "informational" meeting at 10 a.m., Oct. 16 at the Theodosia United Methodist Church.