Huntsville still without water as crews unable to find leak

HUNTSVILLE, Utah — Officials in Huntsville have temporarily shut off the water.

Sunday update

According to the Huntsville Facebook page, the communities water was still off as of 11 p.m. on Saturday night. 

“[On Saturday] the Huntsville team was able to eliminate serval potential sources of the leak via pressure testing, calculated exploratory digging, and internal videoing,” a Facebook post said.

Officials in Huntsville said daylight hours have made it difficult for crews to find the leak. 

According to the Huntsville Facebook page, the public can go to the following locations for bathrooms and various water usage like drinking water, non drinking water and culinary water:

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stake center and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church across from Snowcrest Junior High School from
   
  6 a.m. to 10 p.m. This location will have drinking water available.
• Ogden Valley Community Church located at 9228 E 100 S, Huntsville from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. This location will have drinking water available.
• Water is also available via tanker trucks and tanker trailer at the new Town Hall and Community Center
• “”Secondary (non potable) water for toilets and non drinking usage, and bottled water [will be available] in front of the new town hall OR the Town Maintenance building,” the Huntsville Facebook page said. That water is available on Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Culinary water is available at Huntsville Town Maintenance Shop located at 165 S 7500 E. This location will be open on Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. This location may not have access to a bathroom.

 

Saturday update

The Huntsville Facebook page has posted that the water in the community is still turned off as of 11:50 p.m. on Friday. 

“We are still unable to find the leak and the water is shut off,” the post said. “We still don’t know how long this will last but have some contingency plans for the availability of water.”

The post also said drinking water is being provided to the community. That water can be found at the west parking lot at the LDS stake center, 6500 E 1900 N in Eden. According to the Facebook post, the water will be available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday.

Officials in Huntsville are asking the community to bring their own water containers to fill with the drinking water.

“Please check on your neighbors, especially those who would have difficulty getting their own water,” the post said. “For those, we have bottled water in front of the new town hall. This bottled water will be available tomorrow at 12 noon, to provide for your neighbors who are unable to fill their own water containers.”

 

Friday

Water has been leaking out of the community’s million gallon storage tank. It’s been leaking so fast that they could not refill it quickly enough. Officials have urged residents to avoid washing clothes or filling their bathtubs.

Huntsville Mayor Richard Sorensen said via a Facebook post that the water tank level was originally discovered to be declining rapidly on Dec. 9. As of Friday morning it is only at 6% capacity (60,500 gallons).

“We may only have 10 hours of water if we don’t find the major leak soon, and we don’t conserve the water we have,” said Sorensen.   

More than a dozen experts are combing the system to find the leak.

The city said that water will continue to flow through pipes for a while and that they will update residents when the system is back up and running.

So far they have not found any big leaks, just a few small ones.

The mayor asked residents to help identify any elderly or shut-in neighbors who may need assistance getting water in the event the supply is completely depleted. 

 

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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