Kimberly Wagner, Author at ANRA - Angelina & Neches River Authority

December 23, 2022

Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Event Important Update

Prairie Grove Customers:

Temperatures plunged into the low double digits last night and the system is struggling.

Since yesterday evening, water demand has been exceeding the capacity of the system and water levels in the ground storage tank have dropped significantly.

We have had crews on-site multiple times overnight and again today.

The well is running and the interconnect with Diboll is open, but it’s not keeping up.

At current rates, we anticipate the system will run dry around 2 a.m. tonight.

Water system crews have found two customer-side leaks today already. Temperatures overnight tonight are forecasted to dive back into the middle teens. We anticipate temperatures rising above freezing around noon tomorrow.

Pipes that have frozen and burst will begin to leak dramatically after temperatures rise above freezing. We are asking all residents to inspect their property for water leaks under and around their homes. If you find a leak, turn off your water as quickly as possible.

If the demand doesn’t decrease between now and this evening, we may need to shut the system down overnight to prevent it running dry and give it a chance to partially catch up.

We will have crews on-site beginning tomorrow mid-morning. If you need assistance turning off your water, please post that request on the Prairie Grove Facebook page. We will be monitoring this group page and respond.

***In the meantime, we’re asking customers to minimize using dripping faucets to prevent lines from freezing.***

Take all reasonable preventive measures to insulate your pipes. Unfortunately, the system as it exists today doesn’t have the capacity to protect everyone’s pipes by leaving the water running.

Plans are in place for some stop-gap upgrades in the coming months to carry us to a complete set of upgrades over the next three years, but for this event, we’re going to have to pull together once more to get through.

December 20, 2022

Extreme Winter Weather Event

The East Texas area is expecting extreme low temperatures overnight Thursday, December 22, 2022. Current weather forecasts indicate that overnight temperatures Thursday into Friday morning could reach into the single digits and remain below freezing for 24 to 48 hours.

ANRA is asking all of its retail customers to make preparations now to protect people, pets and plumbing.

– Adequately insulate all outdoor water faucets, hose bibs and other plumbing devices

– Turn off and drain water lines where possible

– For customers who live in elevated structures, (pier and beam homes, mobile homes and RVs) turn off your water and drain

water lines

– Open the cabinet doors below sinks

– Keep the temperature inside your residence the same at night and during the day when no one is home

ANRA recommends letting faucets drip only if the measures above cannot be achieved.

Remember, while it may be inconvenient to take some of these extreme measures, its much more inconvenient and expensive to do nothing.