When. Not if.
Those are the words of the Greeneville Water Commission in advising residents about when the reservoir of water will be gone. And once it is, there isn’t a clear idea yet on when water service might be restored.
Under normal circumstances, the reservoir holds about a two day supply of water. It is replenished daily from the pumping station located on the Nolichuckey River at River Plantation. However, flood waters and debris overtopped the five story tall building, destroying its walls and eliminated the systems ability to continue to provide drinking water to Greene Countians.
Water Commission Superintendent Laura White said that efforts are underway to secure new pumps and establish a way to begin drawing water back into the system, but that could take several days. In the meantime, as residents use water, the supply will decrease and eventually run dry.
Plans are being set up for drinking water distribution points. Residents will be encouraged not to use water that is provided for drinking to flush toilets. That can be done by other water sources that while not suitable for drinking would still be fine for that purpose.
Below is the statement posted by the GWC after Friday’s flooding.
“This has been a historical, unprecedented event. Last night, our intake structure was enveloped by the Nolichuckey River. As most know, the
Greeneville Water Commission supplies water to Greeneville and the majority of Greene County through five utility districts. Our intake structure is how we pump water from the river to the treatment plant. It was totally submerged. After the water receded today. We discovered that there is not much, if anything salvageable at our pumping station. We have a supply at our plant but it was quickly being used due to circumstances out of our control. We have storage tanks in our system as do the utility districts. At 2 pm today we turned the pumps off at our treatment plant that feeds the distribution system. The water in the storage tanks is what is left. This should be a 24 hour supply under normal conditions.
We are having emergency pumps delivered tomorrow but these things take time. We have to configure piping to our existing infrastructure to get it to our plant which is a few miles away.
We are working incessantly, around the click, to do all we can do as is all of our utilities and first responders.
Please be kind and patient. We have families that we are not able to go home to right now either.
With all of the misinformation, I wanted you to hear it from the horse’s mouth ( or as some might say another part of horse anatomy). We do not know how long we will be without water. It is not an if but a when. We are hoping for a week to when we can start pumping. Please give us time and please pray for our community and come together instead of criticizing.”
