All that rain, and no water
Dick Standish, with Standish Water Trucks, empties his 3,850-gallon truck before heading out Thursday afternoon to another water district.
Photos by LOREN BENOIT/Press Kootenai County Water District No. 1 officials believe a station No. 1 leak was a result of unstable ground conditions due to recent rain and not a deteriorating water system. Water district employees bored a hole through the concrete floor, in front of the water purification tank, to get to the pipe leak.
LOREN BENOIT/PressBig Sky Development employee Eric Hensyel helps fellow co-worker Lukasz Godzien repair a water system at the Kootenai County Water District No. 1 station along Sunnyside Road Thursday afternoon.
LOREN BENOIT/PressFor the last week Tony Larkins has been helping Kootenai County Water District No. 1 station get back online by monitoring water levels, answering phone calls and other duties.
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
COEUR d'ALENE — Tony Larkins thought he was taking this week off from work when Mother Nature roared and crimped his and his neighbors' daily routine.
Many patrons of Kootenai County Water District No. 1 east of Coeur d'Alene in the Sunnyside Road corridor are in their sixth day without running water today due to pipe leaks at the district plant believed to have been caused by water-logged, unstable ground.
Larkins, who is among 298 homeowners in the district, has been helping man the district facility on Sunnyside this week during his time off from work.
"We've been filling 5-gallon buckets to flush, buying bottled water and boiling water (trucked in from another district) to give kids baths," Larkins said. "We're doing whatever we can until the situation gets fixed."
The district hoped to have all the repairs finished on Thursday, but a break was discovered, delivering another setback and leaving unanswered the key question: When we will have clean water again?
"We really don't know for sure," said Dave Dasher, vice president of the district board and a patron of the district.
Dasher said the district hasn't had this big of a problem in more than 20 years.
"The last time we dealt with something of this magnitude was ice storm in 1996," he said. "And that was an electrical problem, not a system failure."
Dasher said some residents have fled to hotels during the water crisis. Others have taken showers at their gyms or friends’ or relatives' homes.
Some residents have filled everything from their livestock troughs to their toilets with snow to generate water.
"The experienced campers seem to be doing the best," Dasher said.
Nearly 40,000 gallons of water per day since Monday have been trucked to the facility from a neighboring water district, allowing patrons to fill up water jugs and some homes to have running water.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality advises any water coming through the system or filled up in jugs at the district should be boiled for a minute as a precaution before drinking. The water that has been trucked in has been treated, but it is also mixed with the water in the system.
Dasher said the residents receiving water should use it sparingly so their neighbors can have some, too. He said some residents in the district are still not receiving running water at all.
"Some people believe the system is fixed so they're getting caught up on their laundry and innocently denying others water," Dasher said. "A lot of people haven't had a drop of water since Saturday."
Dasher said residents may also notice discoloration in the water due to dirt that may have entered the lines during repairs. He said that's another reason boiling is recommended.
Dasher said crews have been working 14-hour days since Monday.
The district uses water from Lake Coeur d'Alene. It goes through a sand filtration system and is chlorinated before being pumped to patrons.
The problem arose on Saturday morning. An alarm sounded when water levels in the filter bays reached low levels, Dasher said.
"At one point, nobody in the entire district had water," he said.
A backhoe operator responded on Saturday afternoon, but it was later discovered the issues were larger than expected.
Once all the repairs are done, the district will take samples in the system to ensure the water is safe to drink. The district will advise patrons when the boil order is lifted. It will also take about 12 hours to fill the system with water after the repairs are finished.
The district is posting regular updates at http://kcwd1.blogspot.com/?m=1. Patrons can also call the water district facility at 667-0340 or visit it at 5866 E. Sunnyside Road to fill up water jugs or ask questions.
One district patron, who declined to be identified, said her biggest frustration during the ordeal has been a lack of communication to the residents. She said she was unaware of the online updates until she heard about them from a neighbor. She was upset the incident wasn't reported to the media.
Dasher said cost of repairs could reach six figures. He said the district has insurance, but the early indication is insurance won't cover everything.w