Classes resume after water restored to Independence following power outage
Students are returning to the classroom on Tuesday, a day after a power outage left parts of Independence with no water and other areas with low water pressure.
“We’re happy to announce that ISD (Independence School District) buildings will be up and running for school” on Tuesday, the district announced on Facebook late Monday evening.
At 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, the city announced on its website that water pressure should be back to normal across Independence.
A power outage at Independence’s Courtney Bend Water Treatment Plant left the higher elevations of the city without water on Monday, while those in lower areas experienced low water pressure.
As a result, the Independence School District canceled classes on Monday because its buildings did not have access to running water for restrooms and essential operations.
The Eastern Jackson County Courthouse at 308 W. Kansas Ave. and the Truman Courthouse at 112 W. Lexington Avenue were also closed Monday because water service to the buildings was unavailable, officials said. Shortly after 7 p.m., power was slowly restored to the Courtney Bend Water Treatment Plant, Rebecca Gannon, a spokesperson for the city, said in an email to The Star.
“Turning the power on is part of the process — and this is a complex system,” Gannon said. “We have to get everything in the right order at the right time to make sure it all works correctly.”
In an 11:30 p.m., update Gannon said the city started pumping water from the plant at about 10 p.m., but noted that water wouldn’t be available immediately.
The city had to restore water and raise water pressure gradually to avoid damaging water mains or other parts of the infrastructure, Gannon explained. The city was also receiving water from Kansas City, which helped with water pressure Monday evening.
Around 11:30 p.m., Independence resumed supplying water to cities in eastern Jackson and Lafayette counties, Gannon said Tuesday morning.
“Thankfully, we have been running steady through the night,” Gannon said.
All the city’s water is now being pumped from the Courtney Bend Water Treatment Plant, and the city is no longer using a supply from Kansas City, Gannon said. The city is in the process of filling its reservoirs.
A boil advisory remains in place as a precaution while the city works with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to test the water to ensure it is safe. The city collected 16 samples across Independence overnight to be tested. Residents will be notified when the boil advisory is lifted, which typically takes 24 hours.
The outage occurred Monday morning while the city was performing preventative maintenance at the water plant. Last week, city crews took one of the two transformers offline for rebuilding. On Monday, the plant’s second transformer failed, leaving the plant without power.
The cause of the failure is not yet known, but the transformer had not been tampered with, Gannon said. No foul play, including terrorism or cyberattack, is suspected.
The Star’s Caroline Zimmerman provided information for this story.
