Jeremiah Poling

Emergency Operations Update:  Monday at 5 p.m.

From 9 a.m. this morning until about noon, the valves at the Sherwood Forest well were closed down completely to try and accelerate the refilling of storage tanks.  During that time, ANRA field operations staff were reading meters and discovered two fairly significant customer side leaks.

The valves were partially reopened at noon and since that time, we’ve seen the tanks refill at a much more normal rate.  The valves at the well are still partially closed to allow the system to finish refilling.

We remain at Stage 1 of our Drought Contingency Plan and continue to ask for voluntary reductions in outdoor water usage.

If the water level in the storage tanks continues to refill at the rate it’s currently going, we anticipate the system to be back at normal levels sometime Wednesday or Thursday.

When the system is completely refilled, we will open the valves back up to normal levels and perform the testing required to rescind the boil water notice.

In the meantime, please let us know if you see anything that looks like another leak so that we can investigate and address it quickly.

As always, thank you for your patience and understanding and please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns!

As of 10 pm Sunday evening, the water system continues to use water at several times the rate at which the well can refill the storage tanks.

Our next step is going to be closing the valves almost all the way overnight tonight to allow the well some time to refill the tanks. During this time, the interconnect with Diboll will remain open and the valves at the well will not be completely closed, so you should still have a small amount of pressure for emergency water.

We fully expect this will lower pressures enough that a boil water notice will be issued, so we recommend going ahead and starting to boil your water now.

If the tanks have recovered enough to make it feasible, we intend to open the valves back up from 6 to 9am to allow everyone to prepare for work.

Our crews have already been through the system several times in the past week looking for leaks, but nothing has been found so far. We will be reading meters early this week and examining those readings to see if we can isolate any potential customer side leaks.

We will provide updates as often as possible as we try to minimize the impact of this shortage.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

July 24, 2022
To: Prairie Grove Utilities Customers (Public Water System ID # 0030027)
Subject: BOIL WATER NOTIFICATION

Due to low water pressures, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has required the Prairie Grove Utilities public water system (PWS ID Number 0030027) to notify all customers to boil their water prior to consumption (e.g., washing hands/face, brushing teeth, drinking, etc). Children, seniors, and persons with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to harmful bacteria, and all customers should follow these directions.

To ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and ice making should be boiled and cooled prior to use for drinking water or human consumption purposes. The water should be brought to a vigorous rolling boil and then boiled for two minutes. In lieu of boiling, individuals may purchase bottled water or obtain water from some other suitable source for drinking water or human consumption purposes.

When it is no longer necessary to boil the water, Prairie Grove Utilities officials will notify customers that the water is safe for drinking or human consumption purposes. Once the boil water notice is no longer in effect, Prairie Grove Utilities will issue a notice to customers that rescinds the boil water notice in a manner similar to this notice.

If you have questions regarding this matter you may contact Mr. Chris Key, P.E., Operations Division Manager, Angelina & Neches River Authority at (936) 632-7795 or (800) 282-5634.

If you wish to contact TCEQ, you may call 512-239-4691.

All Prairie Grove Utilities customers:

Operations crews have been routinely monitoring the water system. Continued high demand on the water system has depleted the water storage capacity to approximately 55%.

We are asking all PGU customers to continue to conserve water and discontinue all non-essential water use, which includes irrigation for landscaping (lawns, trees, flowerbeds, etc.), washing vehicles, washing buildings or driveways, filling or maintaining swimming pools, and water for decorative fountains or ponds (a full list of non-essential water use activities can be found on page 3 of the ANRA Drought Contingency Plan).

If high demand continues and water storage drops below 30% capacity, it may become necessary to turn off the water system for a period of time in order to maintain the water treatment system and replenish water storage capacities.

We will notify Prairie Grove Utilities customers in advance if the water system will need to be shut down as well as the anticipated duration.

Please contact our office if you have any questions.

ANRA has officially implemented Stage 1 of our Drought Contingency Plan for Prairie Grove Utilities. In order to keep the system in good working order, we implore all customers to please conserve water. We are asking the public to voluntarily discontinue all unnecessary outdoor water consumption, which includes activities such as filling swimming pools and watering lawns. ANRA’s Drought Contingency Plan can be found on our website at this link: https://www.anra.org/resources/drought_contingency_plan.html

Prairie Grove Water Customers – as a result of high temperatures and lack of rainfall for our area, the Prairie Grove water system is experiencing an increased demand on water usage. The water system has been operating around the clock to keep up with demand but it has not been able to completely replenish itself. Therefore, water system officials are asking all Prairie Grove water customers to conserve water usage for the next 48 hours to allow the water system to replenish itself. We appreciate your patience and understanding. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact our office at (936) 632-7795.

The following customer notices are required by the TCEQ as a result of the non-compliances associated with Disinfection Byproducts Monitoring. These customer notices have also been mailed directly to every active water customer of the utility.

Customer Notice – TTHM Violations 2022-07-05