MANNFORD — Residents in Mannford experienced water pressure issues following severe weather that moved through the area last week, according to Mannford Public Works Director Jeremy Brown.
Brown said the disruption was ultimately traced to a power outage caused by a storm on June 13. Some residents began noting dropping water pressure the following afternoon with city crews identifying the source of the problem the morning of June 15 — quickly working to restore normal operations.
“A power outage caused the issue,” Brown explained on June 17.
Pawnee County Emergency Manager Chris Chailer confirmed residents in the Basin area were those mainly impacted in the Mannford community. Brown did not have an exact count of impacted residents but said no critical facilities such as nursing homes or businesses experienced significant disruption. The city did not report any significant costs associated with resolving the issue.
Brown explained that the outage could not have been prevented because it stemmed from stormrelated power loss. However, the city is taking steps to improve response efforts in the future.
“Steps taken to prevent in the near futures is to go out and check booster stations after storm,” he said.
Additionally, the installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system on booster pumps is being considered, according to Brown. The SCADA system would allow city personnel to remotely monitor equipment and receive alerts when problems occur.
At this time, city officials do not anticipate any additional water disruptions related to the incident.
'We apologize for the inconvenience that it caused some of our citizens,' Brown stated. 'We're glad that our crews quickly identified the issue Monday morning and were able to get the problem fixed.”
On June 17, Chailer had confirmed the booster pumps had been started back up and the tanks had been refilled three-fourths of the way saying, “The people in the Basin area should be good to go by now”.