Rutland watches water supply after Irene damaged reserve

<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 8
–>

As residents in Rutland continue to recover from Tropical Storm Irene, another problem looms — they are quickly running out of water. The storm damaged the city’s water treatment plant and damaged the main supply line for the reservoir, which is now leaking and unusable.

“During the storm, the dam in front of the inlet building was inundated with sediment and debris,” city engineer Evan Pilachowski said. The backup emergency pump was damaged but not incapacitated, and is the only source of clean water for the city.

Even with the backup pump running 24 hours a day, it cannot keep up with demand. Pilachowski estimated that with the pump running, the city has a 30-day supply of potable water. If the emergency pump fails, that estimate drops down to 15. Pilachowski stressed that the backup pump is fragile and the possibility that it will fail is real.

“The harder we push the backup, the more likely it will fail,” he said. “We worry that it will suck up a large stone that it can’t handle.”

Pilachowski said that the main intake line and treatment plant should be repaired within 30 days, but the extent of the damage may not be known.

There are several variables that could worsen the outlook for Rutland’s water shortage, such as unknown or new leaks. The fire department uses the reservoir to fill its trucks; several fires would deplete the supply much faster, Pilachowski said.

The reservoir, which serves 18,500 people, has a capacity of about 90 million gallons, Pilachowski said. However, only two-thirds of that supply can be treated so it is potable — at that point the water level would fall lower than the backup pump. The remaining water could be accessed, but would have to be boiled before drinking. As of Friday, 35 percent of the supply had been exhausted, Pilachowski estimated.

In a notice to residents, the city urged residents to conserve water by not using hoses to rinse away mud from the storm, wash their cars, or water their lawns or gardens. Pilachowski said that it is hard to tell how effective the conservation efforts have been.

“There were some successes early on, less so lately,” Pilachowski said. “Another leak could have sprung up that we haven’t found yet — there are a lot of variables that make it hard to be certain about anything.”