Response to Cape Girardeau water emergency hailed

This story is updated.

Much of Thursday's Cape Girardeau County Commission meeting was devoted to an after-action report following Cape Girardeau's water issue earlier this week, a now-repaired leak in a 14-inch water main.

The crisis, which came to light Monday evening, caused school closings, business disruptions, a run on bottled water at area stores and a lack of drinkable water for Cape Girardeau city residents.

The county's emergency management director, Mark Winkler, laid out for commissioners a portion of the area's multi-agency response.

What follows highlights a few examples of the effort made, according to Winkler.

• Southeast Missouri Food Bank, Buchheit, Pepsi, Kohlfeld Distributing, Saint Francis Medical Center, American Red Cross, among other companies and organizations, were lauded for their willingness to help supply potable (safe for drinking) water.

"We ended up with 18.5 pallets of water we could get our hands on immediately," Winkler noted.

Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy asked about the city of Jackson's help.

"There is a valve out by Klaus Park that allowed water from Jackson to flow into Cape," Winkler said. "That water flowed until Jackson's (water) pressure was noticeably lower so they had to eventually close that valve but it was a tremendous help."

• Two pallets of water, purchased by the Red Cross, were transported from Buchheit in Jackson to Cape Girardeau's Osage Centre distribution site.
• 3.5 pallets of water were sent to Osage, courtesy of Perry County.
• County highway department provided a tanker truck to haul 4,000 gallons of non-potable (not drinkable) water from the City of Jackson.
• County emergency management team sent its mass fatality trailer to Southeast Hospital on a standby basis.

The trailer, which must be kept cool for operational purposes, carries a significant amount of water, which could have been tapped, if needed.

"This county asset was on standby because the hospital's water pressure was low for the cooling system at the hospital's morgue. Southeast asked for our trailer as backup in case their system couldn't keep up," said Second District Commissioner Charlie Herbst in a text message to the Southeast Missourian.

Herbst also gave a "shout out" to the county's buildings and grounds department for going above and beyond.

First District Commissioner Paul Koeper echoed his colleague's remarks.

"It is good to see we can react, if we need to, in a short time frame," Koeper said, adding "this is learning experience for everybody."

Other action

• Commissioners approved $14,043 for additional county liability insurance, to be purchased through W.E. Walker-Lakenan.
• At the recommendation of Herbst, commissioners OK'd $3,685 to TruTest for additional environmental assessment work on the part of the county jail built in 2000. The expenditure will be paid for from the county's capital improvement line item.
• There will be no commission meeting Monday in recognition of Columbus Day.