In a situation reminiscent of what happened three years ago, Liberty Utilities announced Thursday that water pressure had dropped in Pine Bluff following days of bitterly cold temperatures that broke water pipes and caused leaks.
“Liberty teams are monitoring the situation around the clock and taking immediate steps to respond,” the utility wrote in an email to area media. “This includes calling in additional Liberty crews to help with leak detection to the system and to respond to customer leak calls.”
Tony Penna, head of Liberty’s operations in the Pine Bluff area, said Thursday’s warmer temperatures, in the upper 30s, had allowed frozen pipes to begin thawing and that the leaks were being detected and stopped.
“The good news is that the condition of our plant is stable and the pressure is where it should be,” he said. “Having said that, we treat any situation like this as if it was critical. We have done things and put things in place in advance so that we’ll have what we need to address such problems.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Penna said Liberty had brought in an additional dozen staff members, some to answer customer phone calls, some to go through the system to identify leaks and others to go out and look for leaks.
“We are working around the clock in our host communities and are working to keep them apprised of what’s going on,” he said.
Penna said the utility, which provides service to Pine Bluff, White Hall and other outlying communities, started noticing a drop in pressure around 11 p.m. Wednesday.
“It hadn’t affected the hospital yet, but it was starting to go down,” Penna said. “We had our people start looking for leaks, and we were fortunate that we found some right away.”
Penna met with Mayor Shirley Washington early Thursday afternoon to inform her of the situation. He said the two added officials from Jefferson Regional Medical Center and Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson onto the call to make sure they were fully informed.
Washington said later Thursday afternoon that she had been on the phone with Liberty for the past several days because of the similarities in the weather this year and in February 2021 when the highs stayed below freezing for days and the lows were in the single digits and teens.
“I didn’t want to wait until the last minute on this,” she said. “I wanted to be proactive and watch this closely. We did not want a repeat of [three] years ago. We are not in that situation right now, but it wouldn’t take long to get there. We told Liberty they needed to be out finding leaks as quickly as possible.”
Washington said she had also asked Ken Johnson, head of the city’s Wastewater Utility department, and Police Chief Denise Richardson to have their personnel keep an eye out for water in and around structures.
“I asked them to watch for pooling water and to report it immediately,” Washington said.
In 2021, there were so many leaks following the cold temperatures and more than 14 inches of snow that the pressure dropped to nothing or near nothing in many areas. The hospital had to bring in water in tanker trucks to feed its boiler system, patients had to be turned away and portable toilets had to be set up outside some buildings. Elsewhere in the city, students at UAPB had to be temporarily moved to hotels in Little Rock and Saracen Casino Resort had to close for several days because of a lack of water. Residents also had problems as they struggled with little or no water pressure.
“No, this is not deja vu,” said Wendy Talbot, chief experience officer with JRMC. “We are not in a situation where we’re critical. We’re maintaining and not in a serious situation.”
Talbot said the first place to look for trouble is on the higher floors of the hospital where a loss of water pressure would be immediately noticeable. As of Thursday afternoon, that was not a problem, she said.
Danny Holcomb, director of facilities and campus planning at the hospital, said that after the crisis of 2021, he put in an alert system that sounds an alarm when the water pressure drops. The alarm went off Thursday morning, but Holcomb said the pressure is holding steady — not at the optimal level but high enough to keep the system operating normally.
“[Three] years ago, the pressure dropped to 15 psi,” he said Thursday, standing outside the area where water trucks had to unload into the hospital’s boilers at the time. “We like to see 60 psi and the alarm goes off at 45. But we’re at 48 right now so we are operating OK but slowly.”
Holcomb applauded Liberty for getting the word out on the situation.
“They’re doing a good job on keeping us informed,” Holcomb said.
Asked if conditions were as bad as they were three years ago or if Liberty was better prepared, Penna said he thought the utility was in a much better place.
“You have to recall, I wasn’t here in 2021, but from what I understand the temperature similarities between this storm and then are striking,” he said. “From that standpoint, I would have to say we’re better off. We’ve had three years to make numerous improvements and we have spent tens of millions of dollars doing that. So we have done a lot to harden the system and make it more resilient to such weather events.”
Penna said that, just as in 2021, leaks were being detected at abandoned structures, with some homeowners calling to ask the utility to turn off the water because of a burst pipe. White Hall Mayor Noel Foster said he and other city officials and employees have coordinated with Liberty’s water management team to find any faults within the local water system. City Hall has not been closed at all this week due to the weather, Foster said.
“Fire Department crews have literally gone street by street, and I would say we’ve discovered two dozen water leaks to residences and businesses,” Foster said. “We cut them off. We’re coordinating closely with Liberty to find those. If you took a half- and three-quarter-inch line, after 24 hours, that’s a lot of water. We’re doing all we can to help Liberty.”
White Hall and Liberty personnel have gone by one business and vacant property after another to detect leaks.
“We’re trying to do all we can to help Liberty try to control the leaks because it’s impacting the whole region,” Foster said, referring to Pine Bluff and White Hall. “Liberty actually provides water to the Hardin Water Association. When you start looking at leaks in the region, I think it’s important for everybody involved to be alert for water leaks.”
Penna also said he had called Tyson Foods and asked the plant to reduce its water consumption.
“We hate to ask a customer to do something like that,” Penna said. “But they called back and said they would, so we are thrilled that we have customers who are so accommodating. These are engaged communities, and we appreciate that. When we asked customers to leave faucets dripping, they did. We’ve had far fewer breaks. And when we asked customers to conserve water, that’s happened as well.”
Penna said Liberty would keep officials with the city and hospital alerted on the situation, saying that by Tuesday, the system should be out of any danger because the weather by then will have moderated.
To help protect the water system, Liberty, in its email, suggests these conservation tips:
Only run full loads in the dishwasher or washing machine, or if possible, postpone the activity.
Take a brief, 5-minute shower, which takes about 10 gallons of water, instead of a bath that can take about 30 gallons of water.
Turn off water while brushing teeth.
Customers are also asked to protect water pipes inside their homes or businesses from freezing by:
Leaving cabinet doors open to allow for additional heat and leaving a small amount of water dripping from faucets. “Remember, water should be set to a trickle. Faucets do not have to be fully open,” Liberty wrote. “Once temperatures are above freezing, you can turn off your faucets to conserve.”
Inspecting all pipes for signs of leaks. “If damage is discovered, turn off your water at your main valve/shutoff and call a licensed plumber for assistance,” Liberty wrote.
Shutting off the water immediately if a pipe freezes, but keeping the faucet open. “You can thaw pipes by applying warm air with a hair dryer or space heater (do not leave the space heater unattended) until full pressure is restored. Be sure to turn the water back on slowly, and check pipes for leaks that might have been caused by freezing.”
UAPB has conducted classes and business online this week due to the winter weather, but it was not immediately confirmed whether the water lines on campus were negatively impacted. UAPB’s women’s and men’s basketball home games against Florida A&M University have been rescheduled for 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday.
Frozen water lines begin to thaw as the outdoor temperature increases, sometimes exposing water-line leaks or breaks, according to Liberty. The utility asks those who see a water line leak or see one in the community to call its emergency number immediately at (855) 382-6511.
“We want to thank our customers for working with us to protect service reliability,” Penna said. “Our team is working as quickly as possible to find and repair leaks and increase water pressure. We understand that conserving water during this time can be inconvenient, and we apologize for any hardship this may cause. Our crews continue to work around the clock to keep our system operating reliably. We appreciate your support and cooperation.”
In other weather news…
Pine Bluff, Watson Chapel and White Hall school districts announced their campuses would be closed Friday for the fourth day in a row due to weather-related hazardous road conditions.
WCSD Superintendent Tom Wilson said a pipe burst inside the tech building at Watson Chapel High School, creating a flood that damaged the flooring. A hydrant at the district’s bus shop also burst, as did pipes to an outside faucet at Coleman Elementary.
WHSD Superintendent Gary Williams said “a couple” of leaks from burst pipes were caught and immediately addressed, but no issues other than that arose.
“Our maintenance and staff did a great job finding those leaks with help from the city,” Williams said.
Pipes in the PBSD were frozen, Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree said, but no failures to them were detected.
“Maintenance crews have been working around the clock trying to find those,” Barbaree said.
Classes and business operations at the University of Arkansas at Monticello will continue to be held on a virtual basis as well. All campuses and offices will be closed, but critical personnel should report for duty, UAM said in a release.
UAM asks those who experience an emergency to call University Police at (870) 460-1000, but not to use the number to determine whether the campus is open.
“Please use caution on any necessary travel,” UAM wrote.