McGowen: Normal pressure for most coming Thursday a.m.
Memphians can expect to remain under the city’s boil water advisory for at least another day or two, according to the latest update from Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division. (The Daily Memphian file)
Most of MLGW’s water system should be back to normal pressure and water availability, according to the latest update from Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division Wednesday night.
“I anticipate that by the morning all our customers should be restored to normal pressures,” MLGW President and CEO Doug McGowen wrote.
McGowen said in his Wednesday evening update that MLGW will continue to pass out water to those in need. Locations include:
- New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, 2237 S. Parkway E., noon-2 p.m.
- Southwest Community College, Whitehaven, 1234 Finley Road, noon-2 p.m.
- Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church, 7289 State Road, 10 a.m.-noon.
In the 2 p.m. press conference Wednesday, McGowen said that another one to two days on the water-boil advisory would be a reasonable expectation. (Bartlett, Collierville, most of Germantown and Millington are excluded.)
Gowen expected samples taken from 36 sites to come back Wednesday afternoon.
He said the advisory probably wouldn’t be lifted in a uniform fashion. McGowen said areas that already have pressure restored will likely come first.
He said residents in the northern part of Shelby County may still be seeing issues because they are “at the end of the distribution system.”
He also said those areas have smaller water mains and rely on water tanks, which have been depleted as MLGW has worked to handle the city’s water issues.
They also are at a higher elevation than other parts of the county, he said.
“I have an army of technicians out in northern Shelby County making sure we do everything we can to fix those issues,” he said.
McGowen outlined the process for lifting the advisory:
First, full pressure has to be restored to MLGW’s distribution system. McGowen said at the press conference that pressure is back to normal, meaning that MLGW’s water mains are pumping normal levels of water out.
After pressure is restored, water samples can be collected and tested for bacteria. The tests are then incubated for 18 hours.
McGowen said that if anything “abnormal” is found during incubation, MLGW has to resample the water and start the process over.
Once the samples are fully incubated, they are sent to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation for verification. Once TDEC gives the green light, the advisory can be lifted.
McGowen said breaks in 36 of MLGW’s water mains have been found so far and that one is still being located.
During another bought of cold weather in February 2021, McGowen said that breaks were found in 140.
He pointed to the utility’s recent investments in system upgrades, reiterating that without them, things could be worse.
“Had we not made those upgrades, more people would have low pressure, and more people would have no water,” he said.
McGowen said he didn’t have any new numbers of city residents who have no water or are experiencing low pressure.
Tuesday, he said it was more than 38,000 people, or 15%, of MLGW water customers.
“That was our best guess at the time,” he said.
With residents in the northern part of the county being uniquely affected, McGowen also touched briefly on the idea of having suburban representatives on MLGW’s board.
State Rep. Mark White recently told The Daily Memphian legislation may come at the soon-approaching General Assembly session that would seek to add suburban representation to the board.
McGowen responded by saying even with the representation, it may not fix what is happening right now.
“You can have 100% representation and still not get the outcomes you want,” he said.
He said he is focused on getting better outcomes right now.
Topics
MLGW boil water advisory Doug McGowenAarron Fleming
Aarron Fleming covers Memphis and Shelby County’s court system and is a member of The Daily Memphian’s public safety reporting team. He formerly covered education and earned his B.A. in journalism from the University of Memphis.
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