The system has been turned off for the evening, at least. We’re empty.
Our wells, running 24/7 and staying within our required blending ratio provided us 20,470 gallons. Unfortunately, our normal consumption plus all the breaks from frozen pipes caused the system to deliver over 36,000 gallons. We simply ran dry. Hopefully not to the detriment of our booster pumps.
We’ve found/fixed/mitigated about 4 breaks that we know of today. With a single break being able to dump 6k gallons in a day, only a handful can bring down the entire system. As pipes thaw out, this is likely to continue for some time, especially without help. Please walk around your homes and look for ice slicks or wet areas. It’s very hard to miss thousands of gallons unless you don’t look. Listen carefully as well. When the system is next pressurized, you may be able to hear spraying water.
This isn’t anyone’s fault. No power and a fast, hard freeze is a natural disaster for us. We’ll have some people out looking tomorrow, so please don’t be offended. This is an operations emergency and we need all the help we can get.
SGCC Board and Operations Volunteers