Water levels were a combined 31 feet below normal Sunday at Augusta's water-supply ponds. The west and east reservoirs are at record-low levels. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

Watering ban lifted for south Augusta

Officials made the decision Sunday to lift the ban in the southern part of Augusta because that area is served by wells that had not been used at full capacity

Web posted June 29, 1998

By Emily Sollie
Staff Writer

Some of Augusta's thirsty lawns can finally have a long-awaited drink of water.

The 11-day ban on outdoor water use was lifted Sunday for the area south of Gordon Highway. Areas north of Gordon Highway will remain on a total ban until further notice, Augusta Utilities director Max Hicks said.

Officials made the decision Sunday to lift the ban in the southern part of Augusta because that area is served by wells that had not been used at full capacity, Mr. Hicks said.

``We feel that area of the county will be OK on odd-even (restrictions) and they no longer need to be affected by the fact that the pump is down,'' Mr. Hicks said.

Calling the water situation ``a crisis,'' Augusta Commissioner Moses Todd suggested last week that the consolidated government increase the amount of water being pumped from the wells, which he said were being used at only 63 percent of capacity.

He suggested putting the well at Kimberly-Clark Corp. on line with the city and setting up a portable water treatment plant there to provide a million gallons a day to south Augusta.

``We need to manage our way out of this crisis,'' Mr. Todd said Sunday night. ``Even if we don't have capability of sending water north of Gordon Highway, there's no reason to restrict the folks in the south.''

Click on the graphic above to see a larger version.DAVID ARBANAS/STAFF

City officials are hoping to give residents north of Gordon Highway the same good news sometime today. But after nearly two weeks of mishap after mishap, they are hesitant to predict an end to the ban.

``The last few days have been a real roller-coaster ride,'' Mr. Hicks said. ``Each time we say it (that the ban may be lifted), we're sincere. But you can't afford to take chances with machinery that big.''

Even if utility officials are able to lift the all-out ban on outdoor watering today -- as they hope -- odd-even restrictions could continue for as long as two weeks.

At the city's waterworks reservoirs off Highland Avenue, frequent visitors noticed the low water levels Sunday.

``That tower is usually almost covered up,'' said Tommy Reynolds, pointing to a cement pillar used to measure the water level.

Mr. Reynolds lives near the reservoir and walks on the trails surrounding the two pools several times a week.

The reservoirs' normal water level is 29 feet, Mr. Hicks said. Sunday, the east pond was 14 feet, 11 inches deep and the west pond was at 17 feet, 3 inches.

That equals 20 million gallons of water in the east reservoir and 25 million in the west. The reservoirs have a capacity of 50 million and 75 million gallons, respectively.

Stepping onto the concrete at the top of the east pond, Mr. Reynolds demonstrated the water's usual height.

``It's usually somewhere between here and here,'' he said, placing his feet about 12 inches apart at the rim of the pond. Sunday, he would have had to slide almost 14 feet down the side of the pond to wet his feet.

If something doesn't go right soon, Mr. Hicks said, the city may have to resort to borrowing water from neighboring communities to keep up with normal demand.

After a gear box overheated Saturday -- the latest incident in a string of bad luck at Augusta's water intake plant -- work crews determined the problem was in two flexible couplings connecting the input and discharge shafts to the turbine.

``We're having new couplings brought in and they should arrive around midnight tonight,'' assistant utilities director Tom Wiedmeier said Sunday. ``We'll work all night to get them installed. Then tomorrow, we'll hook everything back up and roll it.''

If the equipment is in working order, he said, the watering ban could be lifted by this afternoon or tonight. A return to odd-even restrictions will be necessary until reservoir levels have returned to normal, he said, which could take a couple of weeks.