This past winter, Cimarron’s water tower sprang a leak. During the course of repairing the leak, it was discovered that the interior of the water tower required extensive repairs. Those repairs are happening right now. The interior of the water tower is being re-lined, and while that is going on, the inside and outside of the tower are going to be repainted to prevent deterioration. The whole process is expected to last 4 – 6 weeks.
Each time the water tower is taken out of service, it causes a pressure issue throughout the water system. If too much pressure builds up, then water lines begin to weaken and blow out. In the past week, the city has had 7 water line breaks as of the writing of this article.
With all of this taking place, we are having to monitor and reduce water pressure throughout the day and night. Residents will experience a reduction in their water pressure during the timeframe that the repairs are taking place. We expect the repairs will not be completed until sometime in June.
Unfortunately, during this timeframe, we are also experiencing drought in Western Kansas, and our water usage for April was up 34% over the prior year. During this ongoing struggle with drought conditions and the water tower being out of service, we would ask residents to look for opportunities to reduce water usage. If you water your lawn, try to do it during off-peak times or overnight, versus in the morning and evenings when people are showering, cooking, doing laundry, etc.
In the event of a fire emergency, and we have a loss of pressure, the city has a bladder full of 15,000 gallons of water ready to use on the north end of town.
We realize this is going to be an inconvenience for everyone, and we just ask for patience during this time. Failure to regulate the pressure could result in more severe water outages throughout the community.
-City Administrator Mark Pingsterhaus