The City of Saxman’s main water tank somehow drained, leaving community members without water when they woke up Friday morning.
City crews are investigating to find out what happened, and to restore water service as soon as possible. In the meantime, Saxman Emergency Management Coordinator Corey Padron said city employees and volunteers are delivering water to the community’s residents.
Padron said the City of Ketchikan’s Water Division is helping Saxman crews investigate.
“We have the entire system isolated right now from our potable water tank, which is currently being refilled,” he said. “They’re working the residential lines – all the city supply lines – section by section to figure out if we have a massive leak somewhere, or why it is that our tank became suddenly dry.”
Padron said the City of Saxman brought in truckloads of potable water to refill the main tank, so that as soon as the system is repaired, it can start pumping water again.
“Because it takes a long time to build this tank up. We only get about 80-90 gallons per minute of potable water produced from our system into that 800,000-gallon tank,” he said. “If you do the math, it can take a while to build that level up.”
As of Friday morning, Padron said it’s unclear when the leak started. That’s what city crews are looking for.
He said volunteers are going door-to-door, to check in with residents.
“We got a pallet of water that we’ve been taking around, giving to households that need it,” he said. “And they’re out establishing basically barrels of non-potable water, so we can help people flush their toilets, when it comes right down to it. It’s not only the hydration you have to worry about, it’s the sanitation as well.”
Padron said anyone in Saxman who needs water should contact his office at 228-0903, and he’ll send volunteers over.
