Chaffee's water troubles give other cities pause

As Chaffee, Mo., residents enter day 10 of a state-issued boil-water order, city officials are hoping to call it the last day.

Mayor Loretta Mohorc and Shannon Hendrix, a city public works employee, met Wednesday with three Missouri Department of Natural Resources officials who inspected the entire municipal water plant and made suggestions for safer, more efficient operations.

If the tests come back clean, the boil-water order could be lifted late today or early Friday.

Mohorc said the chlorine regulator, replaced after Hendrix was injured by chlorine gas two weeks ago, was still not working after the three DNR officials examined it and that it will likely be replaced.

She said the city council has agreed to hire more public works staff, including a second certified water operator. Hendrix starts training to get certified later this year.

DNR officials say it's not uncommon for small communities such as Chaffee to experience problems with water quality, though a 10-day boil-water order is highly unusual. The time was extended by a three-day weekend, during which state labs were closed.

Chaffee's problems stand as a warning to what other small communities could face.

Delta has watched events unfold even as officials moved forward on a two-year effort to get the water tower repainted. The work starts next week, Mayor Bonnie Bradshaw said. The city's 40-year-old water system also needs to be revamped, she said. A grant has allowed the city to hire Strickland Engineering of Jackson to come up with a plan. A second grant will be needed to pursue any renovations of the city's water system, Bradshaw said. In the meantime, the city's board of aldermen agreed to pursue hiring another water operations worker, at least on a part-time basis.

Delta faced a laundry list of corrections after a DNR inspection in August 2007.

"We want to correct the problems, Bradshaw said. "Otherwise we'll end up like Chaffee, and we don't want to do that."

"We definitely feel sorry for Chaffee," said Delta water operator Jerry Seabaugh. He said most people don't think of the critical nature of water safety, but like electrical or police work, "it's a pretty serious job."

Oran, Mo., Mayor Thomas Urhahn said he hasn't paid much attention to the situation in Chaffee. For nearly 15 years, Bryan Webb has been Oran's lone certified water operator.

Though Oran, a city of 1,200, has no formal mutual aid agreement for water operations, Urhahn said if a problem arose, he expected other communities would help, much the way Scott City has helped Chaffee.

Oran has faced difficulties, including severe cracks in the city's 34,000-gallon water container. Urhahn said the city hired a private contractor to fix the problem. Oran, like Chaffee, has not yet installed a fence around its water plant, Urhahn said, but "it's in the works."

Two water districts in Cape Girardeau County have taken more proactive approaches to managing drinking water.

Water District No. 4 in Cape Girardeau County is led by former Gordonville mayor Brad Burgess, who is the certified operator for the district, which serves Gordonville and Dutchtown.

Burgess said he works closely with DNR and the Missouri Rural Water Association. Every three years, the water tower in his district is drained and inspected, and the system is flushed at least once a year. Water is tested monthly for bacteria, but he doesn't add chlorine to the district's small system.

Peewee Landgraf maintains the system for Water District No. 1 for Cape Girardeau and Perry counties, which provides water to 2,375 connections, from Oak Ridge to the Nordenia Plant and from the northern edge of Jackson to Perry County's Longtown.

Landgraf said he uses chlorine to treat the water, drawn from seven wells.

"By using the established practices, we've minimized our failures," he said. Landgraf is one of two certified operators in the district.

Gary Gaines, director of the DNR's office in Poplar Bluff, Mo., said a water crisis can quickly crop up in a small community and when it does, DNR officials respond in a series of ways.

When a city loses its only certified water operator -- as Chaffee did when its public works director resigned in August -- the state encourages city officials to replace the position as quickly as possible.

"The ultimate goal is to have a safe and adequate water supply," he said. DNR also offers regular certification training at least twice a year and provides vouchers to reduce or eliminate the cost.

Though DNR works as much as possible with cities that run into water problems, Gaines said there are limits. If a community refuses to or lags in meeting the rules, his office can and will pursue legal action "all the way to the attorney general's office."

Gaines oversees 40 employees, of whom seven are dedicated to drinking water issues. They must monitor 28 counties and 500 public water systems. More than 90 percent, Gaines said, comply with state rules. But his office still handles between 700 and 800 complaints a year.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

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