A strong fall storm that hit Cordova in the third week of September, bringing high winds, thunder and lightning, raised potential havoc with the city’s Water Division, but supervisor Joel Felix and his crew moved quickly to resolve the issue.
Cordova residents should know that the Meals Reservoir water is fine, safe to drink, passes all safety tests, is chlorinated and gets zapped by our brand new ultraviolet reactors, the city said in a statement issued after the storm. Water from the Meals Reservoir is employed several times a year, as needed per weather conditions.
What happened was that during the lightning storm, the Water Division lost sensor capability at the Meals Contact Time Tank and the Murcheson Contact Time Tank.
The division is investigating the exact cause of the disturbance, which did not affect water operations, but will require some repairs.
The division is also reviewing past years’ history of storm damage to see if some newer protective measures need to be developed.
The Water Division had to switch to Meals Reservoir to obtain mixing water, because both Orca and Murcheson become too turbid during extremely heavy rains. Some residents may have noticed slightly discolored water for a few hours after the storm, until crews were able to return to the use of the Orca and Murcheson tanks, city officials said.
