“We continue to struggle to return pressure to the water system. NEWS WRAP: Winter weather cripples holiday travel Residents had to wait in lines for water to drink, cook, bathe and flush toilets.īut there were people without water pressure and the city set up an emergency water distribution site on Christmas. The situation in Jackson was not as dire as August, when many of the capital’s 150,000 people lost running water after flooding exacerbated longstanding problems in one of the capital city’s two water treatment plants. “It’s death by a thousand cuts,” Saia told the TV station. More than 400 customers reported burst pipes, so between unreported leaks, closed businesses and empty vacation homes, the system figures thousands of leaky pipes are gushing water. Over the holiday weekend, its output was about 100 million gallons. The system puts out about 50 million gallons of water during a typical winter day. Then when the temperature rises, those broken pipes start leaking hundreds or thousands of gallons of water.Īnd over a holiday weekend, when many businesses are closed, those leaks can go undetected for days, Charleston, South Carolina, water system spokesman Mike Saia told WCSC-TV.Ĭharleston was on the verge of a boil water requirement for its hundreds of thousands of customers that could close restaurants and other businesses. Water expands when it freezes, bursting pipes that aren’t protected. The culprit was temperatures that dropped below freezing Thursday or early Friday and have spent only a few hours if any above 32 degrees (0 degrees Celsius) since then. READ MORE: At least 27 dead in western New York from massive winter storm Police departments around Atlanta said their 911 systems were being overwhelmed by unnecessary emergency calls about broken pipes.ĭozens of water systems either had boil advisories in place because of low pressure or warned of bigger catastrophes if leaks from broken pipes weren’t found and water shut off. Workers at a food bank in Greenville, South Carolina, opened their doors to a rush of water and were trying to save $1 million in food. In Selma, Alabama, the mayor declared a state of emergency because they city worried it would run out of water. They also are happening in Shreveport, Louisiana, where some residents had no water Monday. The problems were happening Monday in large, troubled water systems like Jackson, Mississippi, where residents were required over Christmas to boil water months after most lost service because of a cascade of problems from years of poor maintenance. (AP) - Days of freezing temperatures in Deep South areas that usually freeze for only hours are threatening dozens of water systems as burst pipes leak millions of gallons of water.
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