As of late Tuesday afternoon, the City of Commerce remains under a boil water advisory, and mandatory water usage restrictions are in place.
Both conditions are related to the city’s ageing water treatment plant, which has been struggling to meet demand since a leak earlier this month lowered water levels in the city’s storage and delivery systems.
The boil advisory could be lifted as early as Wednesday morning, but the usage restrictions are likely to remain in place through the weekend, Commerce city manager Howdy Lisenbee said during a live broadcast of KETR’s North By Northeast program Tuesday morning.
Boil notice went into effect Sunday morning
“We took the (water treatment) plant down late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, to perform some routine maintenance,” Lisenbee said. “We anticipated that maintenance to take about an hour. And so while we had the plant down, during that time, there was a leak event within the community that started pulling water out of the towers faster than we were anticipating. So we had to stop our maintenance, hurry up turning the plant on and start pushing water back into the community so that we didn't lose system pressure. When we turned the plant on and started pushing water into the system, not all of that water completely met turbidity standards because we were in the middle of a maintenance cycle.”
Turbidity refers to whether water is clear or cloudy, and high turbidity is one of the criteria used by state regulators to determine whether a boil water advisory should be issued.
“We are now sending water that fully meets all standards and is in compliance,” Lisenbee said. “But because we triggered that state requirement we had to issuable water notice, we're sending samples to the lab today. We expect to have those results back tomorrow from an independent lab. We fully expect to lift the boil water advisory tomorrow.”
Usage restrictions affect outdoor water uses
The City of Commerce also published temporary restrictions on outdoor water usage Sunday evening. Under the current limitations:
- Lawn irrigation by sprinkler systems is limited to one day per week, with odd-numbered street addresses using irrigation systems on Saturdays, and even-numbered addresses using irrigation on Sundays. Lawns and gardens can be watered by hand-held hose at any time.
- Flower gardens and other landscaping features can be watered at any time if it is by means of a hand-held hose, a faucet-filled bucket, or a drip irrigation system.
- Vehicle washing is allowed at any time at a commercial car wash or service station. Vehicle washing at other locations must be done by hand with a wash bucket and a hand-held water hose.
- Swimming pools and other pools can be filled only between the hours of 8 p.m. and 10 a.m.
- The following water uses are prohibited: Washing or pressure washing sidewalks, driveways, and parking lots; washing down buildings, roofs, or other structures for any purpose other than firefighting; use of water for dust control; failing to fix a known water leak in a timely manner.
- Any person who violates this plan is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor and subject to a fine for each day the violation continues. Any person who has three or more violations may have their water service disconnected until the violation ceases, subject to a reconnection fee.
Limits likely to remain in place until next week
The usage restrictions currently in place are intended to help the city’s systems gradually recover until water volume reaches normal levels. Commerce has plenty of water in its supply, Lisenbee said. Most city water comes from Lake Tawakoni, with some water also coming from wells in western Delta County. The problem, Lisenbee said, lies with the city’s treatment plant, which has been able to produce only slightly more potable water than customers have been using on any given day in recent weeks, Lisenbee said.
“The reality is you've got an old water treatment plant that hasn't necessarily aged well, Lisenbee said.” “And over time, it has lost its ability to produce water . . . if that plant was at full capacity, we should have the ability to produce 3 million gallons a day. On an average summer day, we use a million gallons a day. So our plant should have enough capacity to meet three times the normal demand.”
However, three of the plants six filters have been offline. And of the three working filters, only one is working at optimal levels, Lisenbee said.
“And so with that one filter working well, we've been able to meet most standard demands within our community,” Lisenbee said. “But this summer being hot and dry, demand has gone up. Instead of using a million gallons a day, which is typical, our peak days right now are 1.5 million gallons a day, which means we have to increase production to keep up with that demand. And our plant struggles to produce 1.5 million gallons a day. And so we're actively working on those other two filters, and we're making progress, we feel like pretty quickly, we will have those filters up and able to meet the current demand.”
Unless the system makes a more rapid recovery than expected, current restrictions could remain in place through the coming weekend.
“The technical trigger is once we can refill our two water towers, we're out of this production problem . . . it'll probably be another week before we're able to get caught up and catch and fill the towers,” Lisenbee said.
Audio of the Tuesday, July 26 broadcast of North By Northeast is available at the top of this post.
