Lightning strike disrupts North Bend's water systemby Mary Le Arneal and Nathan Arneal Wednesday afternoon [Aug. 16, 2023], the City of North Bend asked its residents to return to normal water usage, with the exception of drinking unboiled water. Earlier in the week, the city and PeopleService asked residents to minimize water usage as repairs were made to the city's water plant after a lightning strike caused the plant's computer system to shut down. As of Wednesday, the system is back up and running at 100%. More usage will help flush the system, city clerk Theresa Busse was told by the city's water manager, so people are asked to resume their normal habits of washing clothes, running lawn sprinklers, showering, etc. Busse emphasized that there is no danger presented by touching or otherwise being exposed to the water and there never was. The only restricted use was drinking the water without boiling, a restriction required by the state any time water pressure reaches below a certain level. The boil order is still in effect, asking users to boil water before drinking it as a precaution. The all-clear for drinking water will be given once the results from a couple of tests are returned from state labs. That could come Friday. The city of North Bend was without water for about 2.5 hours Monday morning. Busse noticed it at 6 a.m. and called Mike Adair of PeopleService, the company contracted to operate North Bend’s water system. Adair arrived at 6:45 a.m to find the computer system that runs the water system was frozen. “No alarms went off to let us know after the (water) tower was drained,” Busse said. “The alarms and alerts are connected to the computer.” By 8:15 a.m. the water was back on using water from the clear well at the plant, a square cement well underground. As a precautionary measure, PeopleService issued an alert for residents to boil water before drinking. Any time a water system goes below 20 psi of pressure, the state mandates that a boil water advisory be put out. North Bend’s pressure was down to zero, so the advisory was put out at 9:30 a.m. Monday. As of Monday, it was not known how long the boil alert will be in place. “They have to fix the problem, fill the tower up, flush the pipe and then get tested by the state before the water is declared safe to drink,” Busse said. Adair’s initial thought was that the pre-dawn thunder storm Sunday had caused electrical issues that made the water plant’s computer malfunction. “In my 20 years I have never seen anything like this,” Adair said. Adair began running the plant manually to fill the water tower and restore water to town. He then began troubleshooting to find out what the problem was and to figure out if it was only the computer. He notified JetCo, the company in Iowa who programmed the computer. JetCo representatives were in North Bend by noon Monday and determined several computers programs were effected by the lightening strike and will have to be replaced. While waiting for the computer repair, the water tower will be operated manually 24 hours a day until the automation is returned. This should happen sometime Thursday. “If the public would reduce water usage during this time until further notice, that will keep the water flowing and assure we don’t run out,” Adair said. Adair requested that the residents of North Bend focus on restricting water until the automation is restored. That request was rescinded Wednesday. Note: This story was printed in the Eagle Tuesday. The online story was updated Wednesday, adding the first five paragraphs, when the city withdrew its request to limit water usage. <<Back to the front page |