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By Sam Hosler
Mayor, Kearny
My wife, Carol, has a new saying, “Things don’t work!” She says this in exasperation when her computer freezes up, when the guide wheels fall off the dishwasher racks, or when the television gets a mind of its own.
This week it was my turn to say, “Things don’t work!’ The town’s filtration plant has been down, and it has taken quite a while to get new parts. This filter removes the sediments from the water, especially the manganese which is so prevalent here. The repair team has been working on the filter this week and all should have been going well. They were, until the State Fire Marshal called for an inspection of the town’s fire hydrants.
Well, Chief Piggott complied and, as you know, quite a bit of manganese got stirred up, discoloring the water and leaving sediments in sinks and tubs. Then, on top of that, our new well (yes, the new one!) decided to quit working and we had to call in for more help.
All our fixes and repairs are complicated because the whole water system is now more than fifty years old. Pipes have settled, pipes have become encrusted, and little pockets of manganese are everywhere waiting to be stirred up.
The upshot of this is that every fix stirs up more sediment, and we still have lots of fixes to do in the next few years. We do our best to let people know ahead of time when we flush the hydrants. It’s harder to let people know ahead when it’s an emergency.
Anyway, thanks for your patience with all this. Here’s hoping that our finances will stretch enough to make things better.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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