Independence left with no water or low water pressure. Here’s what’s to blame
A power outage at Independence’s Courtney Bend Water Plant has left parts of the city without water and the rest with low water pressure, a city spokesperson said Monday.
“The higher elevations of Independence are the ones who don’t have the water, and that’s just because it’s the way gravity works and the way water pipes work,” said Rebecca Gannon, a spokesperson for Independence.
The city has been working since Monday morning to identify the problem and develop a solution. The problem arose as the city was performing preventative maintenance at the water plant, Gannon said.
Last Thursday, city crews took one of two transformers offline to rebuild it, much like a car engine that is taken apart and put back together, Gannon said. The transformers provide redundancy so that, when one fails, the other continues to operate.
However, the second transformer failed, and with the first one undergoing preventive maintenance, there is no backup.
“So we are now trying to put the one that we took down for preventive maintenance back together and do what we can to get power back on,” Gannon said. Officials are still investigating why the transformer failed.
At the same time, the city has contacted Kansas City Water and is in the process of opening four connections to supply its residents with water by filling its pipes with Kansas City water, Gannon said.
The question right now is which turns on first: the water from Kansas City or the power in Independence, Gannon said. There is no estimated time for when the city will fully restore water pressure.
The city pumps an average of 28 million gallons of water every day through its pipes. Even once water is flowing again, it will take time to restore water pressure fully.
“We have to take a slow approach to bring the water back up to the right pressure,” Gannon said. If it is done too quickly, it could endanger the city’s system, leading to broken pipes and water mains.
The city has also issued a boil water advisory as a precaution. The city advises customers of its water service to bring water to a rolling boil for three to five minutes, then cool it before consumption.
Independence also provides water to other cities in eastern Jackson and Lafayette counties. When Independence discovered the problem on Monday morning, Gannon said Independence reached out to those municipalities, which agreed not to use Independence water and to find alternative sources.
The lack of water and low water pressure forced the Independence School District to cancel classes and close all of its buildings.
“At this time, our buildings do not have access to running water needed for restroom and essential operations,” the school district said in a post on Facebook. “There is no school, no Early Education, and no Kids’ Safari.”
The district sent student who had already arrived or dropped off at school home on buses.
The Eastern Jackson County Courthouse at 308 W. Kansas Ave. and the Truman Courthouse at 112 W. Lexington Avenue, also remain closed Monday because water service to the buildings is unavailable, officials said.
