Water Crisis Eases in Ottumwa, Iowa

A week of rain culminated in sewage leaking into the basement of the Ottumwa Water and Hydro Purification Plant late Thursday and early Friday (August 24 and 25, 2007). Not even the massive floods of 1993 - which overwhelmed Des Moines' water treatment plant - had this effect in Ottumwa.

The plant had to be sanitized and pumps sent to Cedar Rapids for cleaning, meaning no water could be added to the city water supply for several days. Mayor Dale Uehling credited the plant's general manager, Richard Wilcox, with quick thinking Thursday evening and Friday.

Wilcox asked the fire department to pump water into hydrants, which maintained the water pressure. While pressure was less than normal, water did come out of most taps, which meant that the system will not need to be repressurized when the pumps are back in operation. Had this happened, it would take five long days to get the system back on line.

What does a city of 26,000 do when its water treatment plant goes off line? Though no contaminated water was believed to have entered the water supply, citizens have been under a boil order since early Friday, and were asked not to take showers, do laundry, or otherwise tax the water supply. On Friday the city ordered all bars and restaurants closed, but by Saturday they were allowed to open. However, on Saturday, coffee was available in the Hy-Vee cafeteria, but soft-drink fountains were still not available.

Major employers, such as John Deere Ottumwa Works, Cargill Meat Solutions, and American Bottling, closed operations Friday and Saturday - though American Bottling immediately joined efforts to distribute bottled water. When the city asked residents to conserve water, one resident, in Wal-Mart to purchase clean-up supplies in the early hours of Friday morning, reported a run on water. The same resident - one of many with a wet basement - returned to buy a wet-dry vacuum a few hours later and saw three Wal-Mart trucks pull into the lot. Each was loaded with bottled water.

The city provided one gallon of drinking water per day for each resident and placed porta potties at major retail stores and public buildings. While creeks ran high and some low-lying fields held water, Ottumwa did not see the extensive flooding that the 1993 rains brought. In fact, if a sewer did not run so close to the water purification plant, the nearly seven inches of rain that fell in 24 hours would not have caused a problem. Like many older cities, Ottumwa's water run-off and sewer pipes are combined, which means that a heavy rain can overload the system. The city is near the beginning of a multi-year, multi-million dollar mandated project to separate its sewer and water run-off systems.

As of Sunday, residents have their fingers crossed that normalcy will return. Several neighbors that this writer contacted reported taking furtive showers. One admitted he had bought eleven cases of water, but he rationalized that it would be years before the sewer separation project is completed, so the water purification plant could become contaminated again. Heaven help us!