38,000+ MLGW customers have little to no water
Volunteers hand out cases of bottled water at the Memphis Light, Gas and Water location on East Shelby Drive, on Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. Due to numerous water main breaks MLGW customers are under a boil water advisory. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
More than 38,000 Memphis Light, Gas and Water ratepayers — or 15% of water customers — have little to no water.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Light, Gas & Water President Doug McGowen gave an update on the city’s water crisis Tuesday, Dec. 27.
Broken water mains are being repaired and water pressure is increasing, but Strickland and McGowen stopped short of giving a precise timeline on when the city’s boil water advisory will end.
McGowen said it could take “a few days” to get the leaks fixed and the system stabilized. From there, it could take “a couple of days” to sample the water and lift the advisory.
“We sample every day and right now we haven’t found any issues with the water, but by regulation when we get low pressure we have to issue the boil water alert,” McGowen said.
As MLGW refills water mains that were emptied because of the breaks, some areas of the city that haven’t had any water are seeing it return, and areas with low water pressure are seeing pressure rise.
“There is room for optimism. We are moving in the right direction,” McGowen said. “I couldn’t tell you that yesterday or last night, but today I’m telling you there is room for optimism because we are making progress.”
McGowen said most of the 30 broken water mains have been repaired, with four water main repairs currently underway.
“I have 20 crews ready to hop on any water main break that we have,” McGowen said. “We have plenty of resources to make sure we get on those quickly to avoid any loss of pressure.”
McGowen also offered appreciation to Memphis citizens who voluntarily curtailed water use.
”We asked everybody to conserve and your conservation is actually helping,” he said. “People who have delayed doing their laundry, avoided doing tasks that require a lot of water – we appreciate that,” McGowen said.
McGowen also thanked business owners for letting workers work remotely, saying it “really helped us avoid the peak this morning.”
Separately, the Greater Memphis Chamber issued a statement Tuesday, Dec. 27, that said water pressure had normalized to the point that businesses could resume operations as normal on Wednesday, Dec. 28.
Topics
boil water advisory MLGW Doug McGowenAlicia Davidson
Alicia Davidson is a lifelong Memphis resident and graduate of The University of Memphis College of Journalism and Strategic Media. When not scribbling about the latest Memphis news, you will find her reading historical biographies, cooking Italian cuisine and practicing vinyasa yoga.
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