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The city of Evarts has long been dealing with issues with the city’s embattled water system. The city recently received funds to put planned upgrades and maintenance into action intended to result in a much more reliable water system.

Woody Fields, Chief Water Plant Operator for the city of Evarts, provided an update on the water system situation.

“With our local representatives and other officials, we’ve been able to receive about $2.4 million for water plant upgrades and water distribution system upgrades,” Fields said. “That money will specifically be used to add an additional water tank which will offer more storage so that we’ve got a lot more water in case something does happen. We’ll go from probably 6 to 8 hours’ worth of capacity before people go without water if there’s a major leak to going about 24 to 28 hours, depending on what we get the water loss numbers down to. That will give us more time to get any issues fixed.”

Fields noted the funding will be used to purchase an additional tank at the water plant and also upgrade the backwashing system at the plant.

“We will have better backwash capability even if tank levels get extremely low within that new tank,” Fields explained.

There are also plans for the remaining funds.

“We plan on doing some system upgrades with the rest of the money,” Fields said.

Fields noted that the water lines within the system that are the most susceptible to leaks will be upgraded.

“There are places we know where there are always issues,” Fields said. “Not necessarily the transmission mains, but the service lines that run from the transmission mains to customer’s homes.”

Fields noted they are also looking for funds to build a new water plant.

“We’ll use those funds – if there are any leftover – to begin the process of getting enough money to get a new water plant built,” Fields said.

The Evarts water system is currently in better shape than in the recent past, however Fields notes the spring of the year tends to be when leaks develop.

“The spring and fall are notorious for leaks popping up. The temperature and moisture changes,” Fields explained. “There are things that are popping up, but we’ve got a crew that’s staying on top of it.”