Under pressure Constant water problems make life difficult in s

CLARK, Mo. -- The city park in the small town of Clark looks like it's home to a huge mole. Twin mounds of dirt poke up from the grass between the pavilion and playground. A few dozen feet away, another dirt pile protrudes from the crumpled sidewalk near the front of Clark City Hall.

The mounds aren't connected by a varmint's tenacious tunneling.

Their link is the town's water pipes, which have leaked, cracked and occasionally exploded in gushers 22 times since December, resulting in an endless cycle of digging and repairing.

Every time a water pipe breaks, someone -- or perhaps all 275 people in Clark -- loses the ability to bathe, boil food, refill the toilet or simply sip tap water.

And every time a pipe breaks, the frustration bubbles up just a little bit more.

"It gets a little aggravating, especially if you're taking a shower or trying to fix dinner or something. It's broken constantly," said Diane Barstow, 70, as she watched a backhoe dig out a water pipe that had been leaking for weeks in her neighbor's lawn.

Barstow went inside to check her faucet. This time, at least, her water remained on.

Cascade effect

The problems in Clark are compounded by the fact that every repair only seems to trigger the need for more. When one section of leaking pipe is replaced, it puts greater pressure on an old section a little farther down the line. Soon, there is another leak, another repair and yet another leak.

The solution, engineers say, is to replace almost the entire 3 miles of Clark's 40-to-50-year-old waterworks with new high-quality plastic pipe -- a $578,720 task that the town cannot afford on its own.

Hopeful for some sort of help, about 40 people showed up for an outdoor city council meeting last week, sitting on picnic tables and metal folding chairs in the park and bearing through two interruptions by trains to hear about the prospects of getting a state grant for a new water system.

The early paperwork already is under way. And Hannibal-based engineering consultant Mike Hall officially confirmed the dire facts.

"There is a definite problem with the city of Clark's water system," Hall told the crowd.

Given that, "the city's in a great position" for this grant funding, added Robin Fitzgerald, assistant director of the regional governments council.

The people of Clark applauded -- despite the fact that it could be next summer before the grant is approved and the project is under way.

For years, a public water system has been one of the only things holding together the tiny Randolph County town, located a little more than 20 miles north of Columbia.

There is no city sales tax, no police force and only a slim city budget, which derives much of its money from the residents' monthly water bills.

Mayor Ken Storla, who came to Clark 13 years ago from Las Vegas, fears the town would dry up if it lost its municipal water supply. But with the potential for new water pipes and a convenience store at the intersection of U.S. 63, who knows, the town might be revived -- even if most of its residents must commute to work.

But Clark still has a way to go before it can bank on a Community Development Block Grant for its water system. A preapplication first must pass muster with the Missouri Water and Wastewater Committee. Only then could Clark be invited to submit a formal grant application to the state.

Only one of every two or three communities that start the process actually receive a grant, said Andy Papen, a financial analyst for the state grant program.

Yet Papen says Clark has several factors working in its favor. The repeated water main breaks pose a public health problem. Plus the city is poor, and it lost an average of nearly 14 percent of its monthly water supply because of the leaks during the past year.

Clark's problems are similar to those of other small towns that have won water grants.

"They are having problems with line breaks ... and that is not an uncommon problem in a lot of small towns in rural Missouri," Papen said.

All of this is raising the hopes of the otherwise weary people of Clark.

After attending the informational city council meeting, Catherine Reynard, 59, already was looking forward to the day when she could put away her family's emergency bucket commode and stop worrying about dirty dishes piling up in the sink for lack of water.

"I'm just so glad we're going to get new water one of these days," Reynard said. "It's going to be great not to worry about getting caught in the shower when the water runs out."