SIRWA water troubles persist

CNA photo by TYLER ELLYSON Filling it in: Kinkade Industries owner Eb Knuth works with Creston Water Works employees to fix a broken water main near the intersection of Montgomery and Elm streets Thursday morning.

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The headaches continue and so does the boil advisory for Southern Iowa Rural Water Association (SIRWA) customers, but news is good out of the Creston water treatment plant. SIRWA customers in seven counties have been without drinkable water since Dec. 29 when a boil advisory was issued after a filtration system failure at the Creston water treatment plant. Creston customers had their advisory lifted Wednesday. SIRWA employees will still need to wait for Creston to fill storage tanks and replenish the city water supply before flushing of the system can resume. Flushing was halted 9 p.m. Wednesday because of clarifier problems. Clarifiers at the water plant are currently running at peak conditions and producing water at the highest level in weeks. “They’re really running great this morning,” said Steve Green, Creston Municipal Utilities general manager. “We’re still cautiously optimistic. We’ve seen this before.” No more Water levels dropped Thursday after a water main broke near the intersection of Montgomery and Elm streets. Water Works and Kinkade Industries employees had the main fixed by noon Thursday. “The water we lost with the failure of the main is going to take some time to recover,” Green said this morning. Green said it will probably be Saturday morning before enough water is available for SIRWA to continue flushing. According to a SIRWA press release, once flushing has resumed the process will take approximately 24 to 36 hours to complete. Why? The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) cannot lift the boil advisory until SIRWA completes the flushing of two and a half times the total amount of water in its system, or about 27 million gallons. According to Dan Stipe, supervisor of IDNR’s Atlantic field office, the amount of water to be flushed is based on mathematics and was determined by an IDNR engineer. Stipe said IDNR officials will not lift the advisory because there is the potential for cryptosporidium or giardia, parasites that cause diarrheal illness, to be in the old water. Bacteria tests have been “promising,” according to Stipe, but testing for cryptosporidium and giardia is not done because it would be very expensive and difficult in a system of this size. “I do understand that it’s very trying for those affected, but we aren’t going to lift the advisory until it’s safe,” said Stipe. —————— Tyler Ellyson can be reached at (641) 782-2141 ext. 236 or tellyson@crestonnews.com