Water Conservation Requested Lifted for East Huntsville - FOX 54 WZDX – Huntsville News, Weather and Sports

 

Update: 

Huntsville Utilities crews were able to complete repairs to a water pump this morning and has lifted its water conservation request for customers that live in neighborhoods east of the Monte Sano/Green Mountain area. 

A pump that supplied up to 4 million gallons of water a day to the eastern part of the city failed Thursday night and the system was struggling to meet water demands in that area.

"We want to express our appreciation to customers who helped with the water conservation efforts," stated utility spokesman Bill Yell. "We still encourage customers to use water wisely during this very dry weather event" Yell added.

Utility officials stressed that while the system is now in good shape, it is being run at near record levels and any system failure such as a major main break or pump failure could result in another conservation request.

Huntsville Utilities pumped 70.5 million gallons water on Friday. The all-time single day record for water use was set in 2007 at 76 million gallons. The system has the capability to pump over 90 million gallons a day from two treatment plants on the Tennessee River and two wells within the city.

 

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Huntsville Utilities is requesting that water customers that live in neighborhoods east of the Monte Sano/Green Mountain area to stop watering their yards for the next two days.

One of the pumps that supplies water to this area failed overnight resulting in a loss of about 40 percent of the capacity in this area of the city.

System changes have been made to improve the water supply to that area but until the damaged pump can be replaced; there will be restricted capacity to that area.

Customers are requested to stop lawn irrigation until the pump can be replaced so that there will be an adequate supply of water for home use and fire protection.

Utility crews are preparing to begin the pump replacement tonight but it will take at least 36 hours to replace and test the pump before normal water service can be restored.

Under normal operating conditions, the pump replacement could be done without any restrictions to water use but there currently is a very high demand for water during this current heat wave.

Huntsville Utilities has been pumping approximately 65 million gallons each day this week. The system has the capability to pump over 90 million gallons a day from two treatment plants on the Tennessee River and two wells within the city.

While there are no requests for water conservation in other parts of the Huntsville Utilities' service area, customers are encouraged to use water wisely.

Huntsville Utilities will update the status of the repair efforts and conservation request on Sunday, July 1.