City scrambles to fix main break as the council meets
By Lori Mellinger editor@bullardnews.com
As the Bullard City Council was addressing city business on Tuesday, the crew was addressing its own problem - a main break that shut down water to every customer in the city limits.

-- Bullard Banner photo by Kelly Griffith Utility director Mark Barker works on what turns into a major water line break last week.

After everything calmed down, and the crew completed its work, City Manager Larry Morgan said it was a lesson learned and an issue that would be addressed.

"We found out that when the line was installed a number of years ago, there was not a tap installed to isolate a leak by shutting off specific

lines," he said. "The line goes directly to the standpipe." The standpipe is the city's water storage

tank.

The problem had, in fact, been simmering for probably three days before the crew found it.

"Instead of water coming to the surface, it was actually sinking below," Morgan said. "So when it finally surfaced on Tuesday, there had already been a significant amount of water lost."

Morgan said the crew began shutting off valves but the leak persisted.

-- Bullard Banner photo The city crew works Tuesday on what they initially thought was a minor leak.

"There was never a way installed to shut off just portions, so the crew made a choice to shut down the system," Morgan said. "This caused the city to be without water."

In the meantime, the city has a course of action it follows when water is turned off.

"We have a hot list," Morgan said, "which consists of veterinarians, doctors, grocery stores, restaurants, etc., and the staff began calling them to alert them."

Morgan said all cities must also alert the Texas Agency for Environmental Equality (TCEQ) when water is shut down for a significant amount of time.

"I called TCEQ, and a representative called me during the council meeting," he said. "At that point, we called the television and radio stations to ask them to broadcast a boil-water notice for when water service was restored."

As people began returning home from work, the calls began pouring in.

"We had people answering the phones all the way through, telling people what was going on," Morgan said. "And we thank the citizens and businesses for being as understanding as they were."

The crew worked until water was restored about 8:30 p.m.

They also took water samples from various sections of the city for TCEQ testing.

On Wednesday, the city got the all-clear news from the testing.