Lemoore city manager hopes to have well site online by end of next week
Jun. 24—As the City of Lemoore reels from the West Hills tank explosion, City Manager Nathan Olson went over some of the work that needs to be done to get the well site back online — which he hopes to make happen by the end of next week.
On Monday afternoon, contractors were attempting to weld a flange onto a water tank at the Station 7 Water Facility Complex (or Well Site 7) across the street from West Hills College Lemoore, when an ignition caused an explosion, lifting the tower approximately 70 feet into the air and causing the 1.5 million gallons of water inside to burst out. One of the contractors on site, 41-year-old Dion Jones, was killed in the accident.
As a result of the explosion, Well Site 7 is out of commission and a state of emergency was declared for Lemoore on Tuesday afternoon due to the resulting water shortage.
Olson explained that the declaration gives him and his staff the necessary resources from the state and other entities at a moment's notice should they need them. It also quickens the process of getting essential work done and enacting policies.
"It also allows us to make immediate changes for the benefit of our residents and to get through this," Olson said. "Typically, there's a lot of things you'd have to go to Council for and even to get people on site to do the job, we're able to move a little bit quicker ... it streamlines the process immensely when you're in an emergency state."
Lemoore residents are being asked to conserve water, meaning that the watering of lawns and personal washing of vehicles is off limits. Car washes, however, remain open for business, as Olson said they're more efficient with water usage.
"We have enough water to keep our residents and our businesses going. But we're having lulls of low pressure," Olson said. "If we start running low where our booster pumps can't keep up with demand because we've lost storage and we don't have that bigger cushion, that's why we restricted watering and watering with hoses, because we just don't want unnecessary water going down the drain."
Efforts to get Well Site 7 functional are underway. Olson and his team are working with PG&E to get power back up on the site by early next week. In the interim, they're hoping to get temporary power this afternoon to exercise the pumps, test equipment and begin the repair process.
They're hoping that Well Site 7 will be operating by the end of next week, but Olson cautioned that factors do need to be considered for this to happen.
"I can get water to the tank — probably by the end of the week — for sure. But I still don't have communications and chlorination equipment to treat it to make it safe to drink. So it doesn't do me any good to get water in the tank if it's not treated."
Olson expects the state of emergency to be lifted when water is returned to the site and is safe to use.
