Dry Times In Cameron

CAMERON — With the Ohio River supplying an abundant supply of fresh water to municipalities, most Ohio Valley residents take the liquid for granted.

Folks living in Cameron are learning different, however, as their community is in an emergency situation when it comes to water.

Water in the city’s reservoir is 14 feet below normal, old waterlines are breaking continuously and the public service district waterline from Marshall County may not be big enough to provide water to the entire city.

That’s the latest from Cameron Mayor Betty Scott. She said Marshall County Commissioner Jake Padlow and Public Service District No. 4 General Manager George Lagos are working to get water flowing through an emergency line, but it probably won’t suffice to service Cameron’s needs.

While she did say the downtown would have service from the PSD No. 4 pump, that pump may not be able to service residents on the hillsides. Those residents would continue to get water through the city’s reservoir.

Although the public service line would provide back-up water service, Scott said crews have already begun flushing the line to test if the water is safe to drink. Once those tests come back positive, the line will be turned on, allowing some residents to use the county water and helping the city in its efforts to conserve.

Scott expects that to happen sometime this week.

Right now, all residents and businesses do have water service, but that wasn’t the case early last week, as the entire city went without water after an 80-year-old line broke, closing the city schools and forcing precious water on the city streets.

Scott announced earlier this month that the reservoir was “dangerously low” — but that was several water line breaks ago, which caused the level to drop even further. There currently is 7 feet of usable water for the city, which has prompted the Marshall County Commission to declare a state of emergency.

The document declaring Cameron in a state of emergency, along with similar ones signed by members of Cameron City Council and representatives of the Marshall County Office of Emergency Management, will be forwarded to the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in Charleston, where they will be on file should it be determined Cameron needs state assistance in dealing with problems caused by drought and water main breaks.

But water breaks are just one reason why the city’s water reservoir is 14 feet below normal. Scott said ultimately it’s the lack of rain that’s brought the water level to an all-time low.

In the last year, the city saw about 27 inches of rainfall, according to the latest information provided by the National Weather Service. The normal amount is around 35 inches.

“We would need ... six or seven days of a good, steady rainfall to get the reservoir to normal,” Scott said.

Because of the lack of rainfall, Scott said that in addition to praying for rain, it’s imperative that residents and businesses conserve water, as saving water is the city’s best chance of raising the reservoir levels.

And business owners are complying.

“This really isn’t a hardship”, said Cameron Dragon Mart Owner Cindy Foster. “It has happened before and we learn to live with it. It does affect our bathroom situation though. Some people don’t like that they can’t use our restrooms.”

Foster said while the water conservation and water breaks have been minor inconveniences , they have actually helped business a little. Every day, people come in looking for bottled drinking water to store in their homes.

That’s also the case at Gregg’s Market, where shipments of gallon water jugs have been delivered to keep up with the public need. Employees said they are doing everything possible to conserve water, reusing it if possible and even using sanitizers to clean everything.

Scott said she is grateful to residents and business owners, adding they have been extremely helpful and patient with the water conservation.

She also thanked the construction workers who repaired the water break on Monday, saying they actually saved the city from losing thousands more gallons of water.

“When that line broke, the city didn’t own a piece of equipment that would dig deep enough to repair the line,” she said. “So I have to thank Stone Gate Construction. They really saved us.”