PALESTINE, Texas — Three water main breaks have been reported following issues at the City of Palestine Water Treatment Plant caused by recent storms.
"As the void in air is inside the system, it’s like a water hammer affect. And as the water hits it, it’s just like a hammer when it affects some of the lines," Palestine Public Works Director, Tim Perry, said. "We tried to open as many hydrants up and relieve that pressure as much as we could, but with the system the hills and valleys we have, it’s just hard to get it all.”
According to the city, the breaks occurred in the Westwood community, the Salt Works area and at the intersection of Spring Street and Virginia Avenue.
“It was kind of weird," Perry said. "Even our staff, the utility guys were saying the areas where the lines broke was not what they'd foreseen. They thought they’d have more breaks in the older parts of town, to be honest with you.”
The city has issued a boil water notice for residents in the Westwood area. Customers in the area of Country Club Road of the need to boil their water prior to consumption. To ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and making ice should be boiled and cooled prior to use. The water should be brought to a vigorous, rolling boil and then boiled for three minutes. In lieu of boiling, you may purchase bottled water or obtain water from some other suitable source.
"We still have lines that were put in the 1800s that are still in service right now," Perry said. "We think a 30-40 year old line is new to us when everybody else is looking to replace that."
Palestine is just one of dozens of cities across the state that has issues with its water supply due to outdated infrastructure. Some of the pipes responsible for funneling water into homes and businesses were laid 100 or more years ago.
Perry says the issues brought on by the power outage at the city's water treatment plant last week did not help the situation.
"We are such an old city. We have a lot of dated infrastructure that we have to deal with on top of that," Perry said.
Perry says the aging infrastructure is not specific to one part of the city. Though, some areas have older pipes than others, like downtown Palestine. The city recently received a $250,000 Community Development Block Grant to put towards upgrades to the lines in that area.
"Hopefully, by the first part of next year we'll actually break ground and work on replacing some of that," Perry said. " And that's just a step in the right direction to try to combat some of these old lines."
Not only are upgrades needed under ground, but at the water treatment plant as well. In 2017, the city started a Water Filter Rehab Project which costs a little under $800,000. It consisted of upgrades to the four filters located on site at the water treatment plant. Two of those have been completed and the other two are in process. The filters had not received upgrades since the plant opened in 1968.
"It's going to take so much, a huge amount of money to catch up," Perry said. "We know that if we can't provide water and sewer to our residents that we're not going to have residents. So, that's big concern throughout the council and management."
Monday afternoon, crews were still working to repair the water lines affected Sunday.
Instructions to discontinue boiling will be issued in the same manner as this notice. If you have questions concerning this matter, you may contact Felipe Garcia at (903) 731-8483.