While problems with water pressure persist in New Stuyahok, the city has identified the problem's cause and hopes to fix the broken pipe by the end of the week.
For more than two weeks, New Stuyahok homes have been dealing with low or no water pressure. The city has now identified the problem.
“In one of the houses in the lower village, the pipe was broken. The pressure will go back up to normal, but I’ve still got to call Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to see if they’re sending a guy over to double check and make sure this won’t happen again,” says Jerry Walcott, the city administrator.
Water spilling out of the line is draining water from the storage tanks. With water in the tanks low, there is not enough pressure to get water to all the houses on the system. Walcott encourages residents with enough water to continue to conserve it to allow the water in the tanks to refill. The city hopes to have the line fixed by the end of the week.
About 20 houses, mostly old HUD homes and homes in the lower village, have been without water. Although the broken pipe has not yet been fixed, the water tank levels seems to have recovered slightly. Some of affected houses have higher water pressure than they did last week.
Contact the author at avery@kdlg.org or 907-842-5281.
