COMO Safe Water Coalition asks the city for proactive efforts to prevent water main breaks
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
COMO Safe Water Coalition is asking the City of Columbia to address water line infrastructure to prevent water main breaks.
"The problem that we've noticed here in the City of Columbia is that they operate very much in a reactive manner instead of a proactive manner," Co-founder of COMO Safe Water Coalitions Julie Ryan said. "They're very much about Band-Aids instead of solutions."
Ryan's frustrations with the department have been going on for a while, but more attention was brought after her neighborhood was put under a boil advisory Tuesday morning.
The advisory comes after a break happened near Vawter School Road and Scott Boulevard.
The affected subdivisions are Thornbrook, Wyndham Ridge, Creek's Edge, Bradbury Estates and part of Copperstone.
"I think the issue is that when most of us who have lived here as long as we have, have realized that this is something that's been going on for years and it hasn't been attended to properly," Ryan said.
Ryan said she has spoken to city leaders in the past.
"We know that irrigation can put pressure on the system. But the problem is that there are ways to counteract that, there are ways to create a whole community, a whole city irrigation plan that really hasn't been done," Ryan said.
Ryan said she would like to see council members and utility leaders look at ways to implement an irrigation plan for households.
Another issue highlighted by Ryan: In 2016 the City of Columbia began looking at a new water tower that became voter-approved in 2018.
The project would have cost $3,000,000 to build the elevated water storage in southwest Columbia. Ongoing issues with purchasing the necessary land to build the structure have delayed the project that was supposed to be completed by 2021.
Ryan also shared with ABC 17 News that the notice for the boil-water advisory came in a text message to her on Tuesday Morning, though she said she noticed her water was affected by 11:30 p.m. Monday.
"I have neighbors who I know did not know the water went out and they were up drinking the water this morning before they received that precautionary boil advisory notice," Ryan said. "We know it's a precautionary measure. We know it doesn't mean that there is definitely going to be bacteria in the water, but we want to take those precautions and there should have been notifications going out last night at the time the outage happened."
ABC 17 News reached out to the City of Columbia and Columbia's Water and Light but have yet to hear back.
