CHESTER – An incident last week near Chester concerning a water leak is under control, according to the water board president.
Last Thursday, the county’s Emergency Management Office put out a statement about an outage, in the area serviced by the Deer Country Plant, that the issue was being resolved, but asked that residents curtail water usage to only essential purposes.
Ray McKnight, who is the president of the water board, and helps out to maintain the water system, said the leak was the result of several years’ worth of patching up. McKnight said that in the efforts to find the leak, he walked more than six miles to locate it. Eventually, a drone team from Texas A&M identified the source of the leak on Saturday morning. It was discovered by 9:30 a.m., and according to McKnight, was fixed later that afternoon.
“Everything is running as it should be,” McKnight said, but added that the area is still under a boil water notice. He said the water system has been running as it should since Sunday.
He said that not a single person within the Chester city limits was affected by the leak. The three water plants under the direction of Chester Water Supply Corp. are the Deer Country Plant, one in Barnum and the Chester city plant. Most of those affected, McKnight said, were Polk County residents, as the Deer Country Plant is on the county line, and the Barnum community is also in Polk County. The Barnum plant was also affected.
McKnight said the leak had been leaking for several years, and just eventually got worse, until the result was one massive leak.
“That leak has been there a long time, and that plant has been working overtime to overcome that,” McKnight said.
The long-term solution, McKnight said is that an upgrade in the system is necessary. McKnight said that an aquifer study. The Chester Water Supply Corp. is on the Gulf Coast Aquifer system, which encompasses 41,970 square miles and services 56 counties, including Harris and Galveston.
That study, which will be done through Texas A&M, will determine what approach the city can utilize to move forward with its water system.
McKnight said that the city might have to look at obtaining grants or loans to upgrade its system, and officials will also be meeting this week with Rep. Trent Ashby to discuss the situation.
