Prarie Grove Utilities Archives - Page 2 of 7 - ANRA - Angelina & Neches River Authority

March 27, 2023

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Prairie Grove – Notice of Water Main Break and Boil Water Notice

1am Monday:

Summary: A water main inside the Sherwood well property began leaking significantly sometime Sunday and we’ve had to turn the water off. In order to reduce inconveniences as much as we can, we’re going to turn it back on from 6 to 9 am before we dig it up to assess and repair. A boil water notice will be issued ASAP.

Full details: Around 9pm Sunday, our alarm system alerted us to low levels in the storage tanks at the Sherwood Forest well. A crew was sent to investigate, and they discovered the primary water main within the Sherwood Forest well property leaking significantly. Attempting a dig in the dark and without parts stores being open will likely just extended the outage rather than solving the problem so we’ve chosen to turn everything off for now to prevent it having a complete blowout before it can be repaired.

In order to minimize the inconvenience for you as much as we reasonably can, rather than starting a repair we can’t finish soon enough to be useful to you Monday morning, we’ll instead have someone on site at 6 am to turn everything back on so you all can hopefully have water to prepare for your day. From 6-9 the crew will watch the leak for signs of worsening. If it holds until 9am, we’ll wait until then to turn it back off and begin digging to assess and repair.

Because it will have been off all night, and will have to be off again during the repair, a boil water notice will be issued as soon as we reasonably can. Please treat it as though we’ve already issued the notice.

As always, we thank you for your patience and understanding, and we apologize for this inconvenience.

We’ll update you as soon as we know more.

December 28, 2022

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Boil Water Notice Rescinded for Prairie Grove Utilities

December 28, 2022

To: Prairie Grove Utilities Customers (Public Water System ID # 0030027)
Subject: BOIL WATER NOTICE RESCINDED

On Friday, December 23, 2022, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) required the Prairie Grove Utilities public water system (PWS ID Number 0030027) to issue a Boil Water Notice to inform customers, individuals, or employees that due to conditions which occurred recently in the public water system, the water from this public water system was required to be boiled prior to use for drinking water or human consumption purposes.

Prairie Grove Utilities has taken the necessary corrective actions to restore the quality of the water distributed by Prairie Grove Utilities used for drinking water or human consumption purposes and has provided TCEQ with laboratory test results that indicate that the water no longer requires boiling prior to use as of December 28, 2022.

If you have questions concerning 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 a customer wishes to contact TCEQ, they may call (512) 239-4691.

December 27, 2022

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Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Update #13

Update 7pm Tuesday:

Since 4pm, the demand has continued to be reasonable, so we’re going to leave the system on.
We intend to read meters tomorrow. Our crews have already looked at just about every meter in the system, but a full meter read will help us find any smaller leaks that might remain.
We hope to be able to lift the boil water notice at some point tomorrow as well.

Thank you again for your understanding, patience, encouragement, and good attitudes as we went through this at seemingly the most inconvenient time possible.

Have a good night, and if you spot the guys out reading meters tomorrow, wave at them and give them a thumbs up. They deserve it.

December 27, 2022

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Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Update #12

Update – 4:00 p.m. Tuesday:

The news so far today is good. We began this morning with full tanks as hoped, and as of 3:30 p.m., we’ve only dropped by 11%.

Dropping at all doesn’t sound great, but we expect some during the day because the well is undersized.

It’s normal for usage during the day to outstrip the ability of the system to replenish, and it generally is able to catch up overnight when demand is at its lowest.

The demand we’re seeing so far today is in line with an average day. So we believe most, if not all, of leaks have been found.

Will we be able to leave it on tonight?

We’re can’t promise yet, but likely, yes.

Unless usage spikes significantly this evening, it’s looking VERY likely that we will be able to leave it on.

This evening around 7 p.m. once we see what it looks like after everyone gets home and starts using more water, we will update with a final decision.

These updates all go out over multiple channels: anra.org, the text notification system, and here on Facebook.

If you would like to receive these alerts as text messages, signup is easy. Just text “PGU” to 800-282-5634.

December 26, 2022

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Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Update #11

Update 7:45pm Monday:

We’re going shut it down at 8 as planned.

We will open it back up at 7am sharp, hopefully for the last time for this event.

We’re seeing about the same draw as this morning after the leaks we know about were isolated, so at least we don’t appear to have any new leaks.

Shutting it down one more time will allow us to start the day tomorrow with full tanks, and that should give everyone time enough to find those last few leaks.

We don’t anticipate posting an update in the morning, since you’ll know when it comes back on anyway.

But we will have updates throughout the day if and as needed.

Thank you all once again for your understanding and assistance.

Hopefully nothing but good news tomorrow!

December 26, 2022

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Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Update #10

Update 5:30pm Monday:

As of 5pm, water is flowing once again.

We intend to keep it open until 8pm as planned, then stop and let it replenish again overnight.

Several customer side leaks were found this morning and fixed or the meters turned off.

The draw on the system has improved considerably, but it’s still slightly more than the well can supply.

With one more overnight replenish, we should be able to start the morning tomorrow with 100% full tanks.

We believe there are still a few leaks out there.

But if we and/or the homeowners with leaks are able to locate those last few over the course of the day tomorrow, we’re hopeful that we can then get back to 24 hour operation.

We’ll update again at 8.

December 26, 2022

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Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Update #9

Update 7am Monday:

Valves are open.

The plan right now is to keep them open until 10am and hunt for leaks, then let it replenish over the afternoon and give everyone a chance to fix leaks found.

Back on from 5-8pm then replenish overnight.

Obviously If we find and get enough leaks fixed or isolated, plans will change.

December 25, 2022

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Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Update #8

Update 9:30 pm Sunday:

We shut the system down for the evening at 9, and we didn’t completely run out of water this time!

Because there is still some in the tank, we’ll start the morning in a better place, and the pressures at the plant should have finished recovering.

The plan for tomorrow has not changed:

Water on: 7:00 AM

Water off: 10:00 AM

Water on: 5:00 PM

Water off: 8:00 PM

We’ll be out actively hunting leaks after we turn it on.

As always, thank you for your patience and understanding.

We’ll see you in the morning!

December 25, 2022

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Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Update #7

5:00 PM Sunday Update:

The storage tank has recovered approximately 3 feet since shutting down earlier today.

We will be turning water back at 7:00 this evening and running till 9:00 or until the water supply runs out.

Tomorrow we will observe the following schedule.

Water on: 7:00 AM

Water off: 10:00 AM

Water on: 5:00 PM

Water off: 8:00 PM

Hopefully, Tuesday we’ll be able to follow a more normal schedule as people find and fix leaks and the need to use water to prevent frozen pipes.

Please remember we are still under a Boil Water Notice until further notice. We anticipate rescinding that notice by mid-week.

December 25, 2022

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Prairie Grove Utilities – Extreme Winter Weather Update #6

Update 10:45 am Sunday:

We hope you’re having a very Merry Christmas with your families.

Water has been on since 8 am, but because we ended last night empty, it was only able to replenish about 40% by this morning. And on top of that, the draw on the system has increased yet again.

At the current draw, we’re projecting that we will run out of water again around 11:30 am.

If you find some time during your Christmas celebrations, please check your property again for leaks. If your neighbors are not on facebook, please let them know that we’re asking everyone to be on the lookout for leaks. A BIG thank you to those of you that have been vigilant and caught and fixed leaks so far.

Here’s how to check: turn off everything in your home that uses water and then look at the leak detector on your meter to see if any water is still flowing.

Leaks on water mains are unlikely because they’re buried and therefore insulated, but if you see any suspicious looking wet areas or running water on the ground, please let us know as quickly as you can.

Assuming we do run out at 11:30, we will try and let the tanks refill over the afternoon so that we can open them back up for a few hours this evening. Likely from 6-8pm or until they’re empty again. As we get closer to 6 we will know more.

Then Monday morning we will start the hunt for leaks again.

We will get through this together, and soon we will have upgrades to help prevent this in the future.

Thank you again.