UPDATE: Junction City officials have issued a boil water advisory.
By DEWEY TERRILL
JC Post
JUNCTION CITY — Just after 10 a.m. water remained at least six feet deep in the basement of the Junction City Water Plant following an overnight flooding problem at the facility. Fire crews are working to remove the water down to a level where officials can get in to inspect the pumps.
At this point City Manager Allen Dinkel said there is no problem with the water ( service ) but people need to conserve usage to a minimum, "so we can conserve everything we have. If we do that we'll probably get along in good shape and move through this. "
City officials planned to meet with the local Emergency Operations Center Board to discuss the option of bringing in water if that becomes necessary. Dinkel confirmed that in addition to the plant there is still water remaining in the water towers. He estimated that as of mid-morning they were about half full. " There are also underground water sources and the city manager noted that an engineering firm is looking at possible options there.
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Geary County Emergency Management Director GarryBerges explained earlier on Wednesday why a conserve water request was issued by the City to local residents. "The generator when it shut down when power was restored back to that water treatment plant last night, a valve didn't close and allowed water to flow into the basement. They estimate about 600,000 gallons of water is in the basement that they need to get out of there so that they can inspect the pumps and the equipment down there to get everything back running again."
Berges said the estimate on reducing the water level back down before officials could begin inspecting the equipment was six to eight hours. The work to remove the water was under way early Thursday morning.
Junction City Manager Allen Dinkel told JC Post when power was switched off the generator at the water plant to Evergy there were problems. "And then water started coming into the bottom of the building from the pumps. " Once the water level is lowered damage will be assessed. "Right now we need people to conserve ( water ) as much as possible. We've worked with our biggest water users in town, and of course school is not open today so that helps. " Dinkel added that the larger water users are cutting back on usage.
Water in the towers is being used right now and the city manager noted that they are looking at the alternative of pumping water out of underground storage, and the City has an engineering firm working on that as well. Dinkel added the damage to the pumps in the basement of the Water Plant may or may not be bad.