Questions Answered On Water Main

After a long Sunday night’s work, Blue Ridge City Water Dept. had the water main fixed. The Blue Ridge City Council held its work session on Tuesday explaining the events of the night.City Council Rodney Kendall spoke on the events of the night. He would explain that a little after midnight Officer Mikey Green found the leak by smelling a strong scent of chorine around the McDonalds intersection. Upon further investigation he would find the water leak in the wooded area in front of United Community Bank on Hwy. 515. Council Member Michael Eaton said,

“It was a perfect place for it to be hidden.”

During the session, the council members wanted to thank all who was involved helping resolve the situation. Leaks occur, especially when you have some old pipes in your system. The piped that busted was put around 1973. The Council would also go on to talk about what they could have done to handle the situation better. Some of the main suggestions were to invest in more test kits, installing more master meters, and figuring out a way to notify costumers of major leaks.

It is extremely important for the city to receive your phone number or email address in case something of this magnitude happens again. This way the city can keep costumers and business owner update when a problem arises.

“Springs don’t bubble, water leaks do.” To report a leak you can call the City Hall, the number is 706-632-2091. The business hours are M-F 8-5, for after hours emergencies call 706-455-0768.

FYN spoke with Superintendent Mark Henson; He said he was very appreciative on the way the city handled the water leak. He was also thankful that notification came in time causing only a minimal loss to the school system.

After the work session Kendall informed FYN that the leak at started sometime on Wednesday. It was a slow leak at first because the county mowed that area on Wednesday with no signs of a leak. From the time it started until Sunday after there was a total of 800,000 gallons of water lost.

Once the pipe proceeded to blow out on Sunday evening it lost around 1,000,000 in a short period of time. So the city would lose roughly 2 million gallons in the few day span. Kendall would state,

“We haven’t had anything this bad in a very long time.”

With water lose, man power, and fixing the pipe itself, it cost the city rough $7,000.

Kendall would go on to let FYN know that this cause of events is making them put in a new Preparedness Plan. This new plan will be drawn up and put into effect within a short period of time. FYN also was informed that the new water tank would hopefully be in place September of next year doubling the capacity of the old one.