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Frozen Line Takes Umatilla Water System Off Line

    A quarter-inch wide piece of ice is being blamed for low pressure and a boiled water alert in Umatilla.  The problem arose early Sunday morning, February 1, with pressure falling in the city’s system below allowable levels.  By the time the issue was resolved several hours later, a boil water alert was a required precautionary step.
    The alert was lifted around 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
    “We went below 20 psi,” said City of Umatilla Public Works Director Vaughan Nilson.  Nilson said the the city normally operates its system at around 55 psi, with the pressure falling around 4:30 a.m.
    “We think ice went through a pressure sensor and got jammed,” Nilson said on Monday. The system shot up to 81 psi and automatically switched off, shifting the water delivery system from a large ground tank to the large water tower over the city’s main plant.
    Once the tank was emptied, however, the overall pressure collapsed to levels below proper pressure.
    By 7:30 a.m. work was  underway to resolve the issue, and Nilson said the city was back up and running around 11 a.m.
    The problem provided a real-world example of a problem the city is in the process of fixing.  The city recently accepted a state grant to upgrade its second water plant, located on CR 450 NE across from the North Lake Regional Park.  Currently, that plant is able to support the city’s operations, but is not of a size to carry the entire city’s water load on its own.  The state recently funded a grant to upgrade the plant to a size that will allow it to serve the entire city on its own, hopefully ensuring a situation like Sunday won’t happen again in the future.
    “Once that plant is upgraded, the two will communicate, and the other plant will be able to take over,” Nilson said.
    Nilson voiced surprise that such a small piece of ice could bring down the whole city’s water system.
    “It was literally a quarter-inch outside diameter hose…that was enough to throw the system.”
    Umatilla wasn’t the only utility that had problems during the frigid weekend.  Nilson said he had heard that Groveland, Howey in the Hills, and Lakeview Terrace had all had some utility issues related to the cold,  In addition, Florida Government Utility, which serves an estimated 250 customers in the Mount Plymouth area in addition to around 700 more throughout Lake County, also had a boiled water notice in place at four locations over the weekend due to line breaks due to the cold weather.
    In Astor, the St. Johns River Utility reported few issues with the cold, with a few customers calling to have water turned off.