Water Leak Repaired, Residents Happy to have Water Back
McNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. – The Hardin County Fire Department was brought in to McNairy County, not for a fire but to send divers five feet under water to fix a ruptured pipe.The leaking pipe near Highway 69 and Highway 22 in Milledgeville left more than 1,100 homes without water for nearly a week. Melvin Martin, Hardin County Fire Chief said he was pleased with the mission. “We’ve had a dive team for a number of years, but this is a first for us,” he said. Adamsville City Administrator Steve Simon said he was thankful for the out of county help. “Shannon Simms put on his gear and got underneath there and sealed this thing off. Now we can start pushing water to people,” he said. Simon said the pipe was filling up a nearby creek instead of people’s homes. “We are absolutely apologetic this happened, and if there was any way we could have stopped it we would have,” he said. Adamsville residents said without water they were unable to use the restroom, brush their teeth and and do many of their daily activities. Lisa Bishop said she was forced to bathe using a small bowl. Bishop farms said the lack of water was not just an inconvenience it could have affected their crop yield. “You get annoyed because when you go to get water or wash your hands or go to clean up after work or go spray your crops and when you have no water you’re like, ‘well I can’t do anything!,” Tim Bishop said. Steve Simon said the city of Enville was hit the worst, because many of the homes sit up on a hill. The Weatherfords were one of the family’s affected and said the lack of water increased their expenses from having to go to the laundry mat and constantly purchasing bottled water to bathe, feed their pets and drink. David Weatherford said while the whole ordeal was frustrating he was thankful to be getting water back. “The peace of life is being able to deal with frustration without letting it get to you,” he said. The city of Adamsville said now that the leaking pipe is fixed it will take approximately 24 hours for water pressure to build back up to normal. Health officials are reminding residents for the first 24 hours after your water is restored you should boil any water before drinking it.
