With more than 50 boil water notices in a year, residents and businesses are concerned, frustrated

Whenever she receives a notice there’s a problem with the waterlines in her area, Velma Johnson pulls out her biggest pot and fills it with water.

“Then I get another pot and fill it, because we don’t want to have to boil water every day,” she said.

Johnson and her husband, Robert, live on Bovina Cutoff Road in the Culkin Water District, where boil water notices are common.

“We boil water for several days, and it happens quite often,” she said.

Johnson said her family’s water bill averages about $35 a month, close to the minimum Culkin charges.

During 2015, according to the Mississippi Department of Health and its own records, the Culkin Water District issued 57 boil water notices between Jan. 7 and Dec. 31, all of them because of broken waterlines.

During the same period, the South Central Water Association in Hinds County, which with 13,104 customers is comparable in size to Culkin, issued no boil water notices, according to the state.

When a water district issues a boil water notice, service to the affected area could be cut for several days before the water in that area is declared safe to drink.

According to information from the state, the district must take samples from the affected area and send them to the health department for testing.

The number of samples required for testing is based on the number of connections affected, and could range from two samples per day for up 25 connections, to 12 per day if more than 900 connections are involved.

It takes from 18 to 24 hours to test samples, according to the health department, and the tests must reveal two consecutive days of clear samples before the boil water notice can be lifted.

 

A financial strain on business and residents alike

Boil water notices can put a strain on commercial and residential customers in the affected area, forcing them to either boil water or go buy water and other items like soft drinks or tea to use until the water in their area is declared safe to drink.

“It’s strenuous,” said Jamie Ray, co-owner of T’Beaux’s Blues La Roux. “We have to boil water to wash dishes, to make tea, to make gumbo; we have to go out and buy bottles of water and soft drinks, because we can’t use our fountains.

“It gets expensive,” he said, adding it costs him about $200 extra to purchase water and soft drinks when a boil water notice is issued.

Tommie Clarkston, who lives on Youngton Road, said she buys water when she receives a notice.

“It’s expensive,” she said. “But I wouldn’t get any if I didn’t buy it. They’re not passing it out.”

“We buy the water, we buy the tea,” said Kelly Summerlin, who lives on Oak Ridge Road. “We pretty much buy everything instead of actually boiling the water. It gets expensive.”

Summerlin, who said her water bill averages between $40 and $45 a month, said she couldn’t remember how many cases of water she’s bought over the years.

Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Chad Shealey said the district has four schools served by the Culkin Water District: Bovina Elementary, Warren Central High School, Beechwood Elementary and Redwood Elementary.

Boil water notices, he said, present a big problem.

“We have to get bottled water for the children and we have to change the menus in the cafeterias,” he said. “Our maintenance staff has to go and cover the water fountains, and the whole schedule of things change, because they’re taking cases of water to the schools. We’ve been fortunate to have some companies donate water.”

 

Boil water notices self-imposed, official says

Culkin Water District manager John Gunn said the boil water notices issued last year in the district were self-imposed, meaning the district initiated the notices.

“The health department recommends that if waterline pressure drops below 20 psi (pounds per square inch) that you precautionary issue a boil water notice to take care of your customers,” he said. “We have had no boil water notices — to my knowledge — that have been imposed by the state Department of Health. We provide them the information that we have put a self-imposed on because they are our regulatory agency,” he said.

Gunn said the notices are issued only for the affected areas “in case there was a customer who had a lower than 20 psi pressure and could have possibly have a contamination. We want them to be aware that we have been in the area and have been working and for them to take precautionary measure to take care of themselves, health-wise while repairs are being made. That’s why we do those.”

Gunn said Culkin, which is the county’s largest water district serving 12,000 customers, was formed in 1958 and covers 39 square miles with 500 miles of pipe.

Culkin charges a minimum residential rate of $32 for 0 to 3,000 gallons; 3,000 to 1 million, minimum charge plus $3.80 per 1,000 gallons over 3,000; 1 million or more, $3.20 per 1,000 gallons. Its commercial rate is 0 to 3,000 gallons, $55 (minimum); 3,001 to 1 million, minimum plus $4 per 1,000 gallons; 1 million gallons or more, $3.50 per 1,000 gallons

Gunn declined to provide current fiscal year budget information on Culkin’s revenues, expenses and whether it had a projected surplus or deficit, citing the procedures under the district’s open records act to obtain that information.

Water Association Board president Fred Davis said the district is largely rural and its terrain makes it difficult to lay pipe, and changes in the soil, like shifting or settling, can affect pipes causing them to break. Also, Gunn said, some of the pipe is old, dating back to when the system was formed.

Vicksburg Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said a slide or shift in the soil could affect water pipes and cause them to break.

“A lot of it is the type of pipe, but moisture (in the soil) can affect it,” he said. “If you have a line and somebody puts a lot of fill over it and causes consolidation, it can break the line.

“We have lines snap all the time for some reason. They just don’t break because they’re there,” Van Norman said. “Something caused it. Soil gets wet, and wet means heavier, and it can move a little bit, and that’s all it takes. It just depends. Every water system’s going to have pipes breaking. That’s a daily occurrence.”

 

Residents ask for better communication

The residents also have one other problem with the district, claiming it doesn’t do a good job of telling residents about boil water notices. Presently, the notices are issued through The Vicksburg Post, local radio stations and TV23, the city’s local access channel.

Johnson and Clarkson say they need to do a better job.

“As far as I’m concerned, they need to call residents and notify them of any break in the line or whatever,” Johnson said. “That way, they would know in advance rather than a day after, because you’ve got all that water in the line after you have a break. I think they need to work out another way to notify residents instead of just sending it to the paper.”

“I’ll be very honest with you, they don’t really notify you,” Clarkson said. “They do not call you or send an email out; nothing.”

Gunn said water district officials are investigating using a telephone or email system, but would give no estimate when that would come to pass.

“It’s in the future,” he said. “We’ll have to make some significant upgrades before that.”

He said Culkin is working to improve the system and eliminate the need to issue the alerts.

“There have been upgrades continuously through the years and steadily today,” he said, “But there are (still) a lot of places in the system where it’s older.”