Engineer and consultant Chris Hall of McGoodwin, Williams and Yates, told the Carroll-Boone Water District Board of Commissioners it took a perfect storm of events, but those events caused a joint in the transmission line between the plant on Beaver Lake and Eureka Springs to separate last week. Repair involved cutting back one of the pipes.
Brad Hammond, also an engineer and consultant with MWY, said the repair extended beyond the time threshold established by the Health Department for these events, so a precautionary Boil Order was initiated. Hall pointed out the parallel transmission line they are laying now would allow full water transmission while one line is shut down for repair. He also noted the pipe that came disjointed was in good shape.
Eureka Springs Mayor Butch Berry complimented the engineers for their quick work repairing the leak, but said he was concerned about the communication coming from Carroll-Boone in this situation. Berry said his town depends on tourism, an industry dramatically impacted by a Boil Order. Berry said early on there were rumors and misinformation passed around, and the city needed information straight from the source. He suggested CBWD establish a communication plan for crises.
Chair Jim Yates agreed CBWD should look into developing a plan.
Plant manager Barry Connell said, “Eureka Springs was the third call I made after the engineers and the Department of Health, and it was within an hour after the incident happened.” Connell said he made 124 phone calls during the first nine hours after the leak began.
He said CBWD is responsible for notifying the cities, and the cities are supposed to inform the citizens. Dwayne Allen, Eureka Springs Public Works Director, claimed there was not a coordinated communication strategy in place. He called it “mass confusion” trying to sort through the conflicting information he was receiving. He asked who would be the primary contact person if an incident like this one happened again.
Berry added different people were acting as a spokesperson, and information was not consistent. He also mentioned that state offices not being open on Saturdays was another part of the communication breakdown. The state websites did not update when the boil order was lifted.
Connell said he made many calls to notify whom he could that the Boil Order had been lifted. He said he used the media outlets as best he could, but radio stations, for example, are not staffed 24 hours a day.
Allen remarked his staff would go door-to-door if contamination were a possibility.
“We didn’t have a plan, and now we know that,” Berry stated.
Commissioner Gene Bland acknowledged Berry’s comments, and said, “We’re listening.”
Yates observed they also need a list of contractors who have equipment the district might need in an emergency.
Hall remarked that during the repair, Connell had not slept for probably 40 hours.