We’re the first to admit, we love water! We live, breathe and drink water! But we draw the line at loving water when it starts to disrupt our employees’ abilities to maintain equipment. Today’s flood levels, now being compared to the levels of the 1997 flood, have blocked our crews from driving to the pumping station at Zorn Avenue and forced the WaterWorks Museum and Louisville Water Tower to close.
But never fear, no amount of water will stop us from providing the same, award-winning water to our customers. It will just take a little extra effort and creativity – but we’re up for the challenge.
Rising water on Zorn Avenue and River Road is too deep for employees to drive to the pumping station – home of our intake valves (where we pull water into our treatment system from the Ohio) – so we’re working with our friends at Harrods Creek fire department to transport employees by boat. Crews will work 24 hour shifts at the pumping station to be on site should the need arise to work on the pumps or intake valve. The flooding will not affect water quality.
The flood of 1997 was the seventh-highest Ohio River flood on record. During that time, the pumping station were accessible only by helicopter or boat, sand bags were filled to shore up flood walls and crews worked around the clock to maintain equipment and treat the increasingly muddy water pulled from the river. We anticipate the same issues with the current flooding, but won’t know final outcomes until the water crests early next week. Until then, we’ll be fighting the water to continue providing you with the best tasting tap water.
*Louisville Water Tower and WaterWorks Museum are closed due to flooding.