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Mike Spoelker woke up to the sounds of beeping around two o’clock Monday morning. He looked out his window on Cherokee Road and saw a mini-excavator backing off a Louisville Water truck. To his pleasant surprise, a crew was there to repair the water main break he reported about an hour earlier.
Spoelker shared his gratitude on Facebook, saying in part, “My hat is off to them. Those guys are busting their butts in frigid temperatures. It was 10 degrees outside. The last truck left at 8 AM Monday morning.”
Winter’s latest blow delivered several inches of snow, ice, and brutally cold temperatures. The water main break on Spoelker’s street is one of more than a hundred main breaks in the last week, with the majority being smaller pipes in neighborhoods. The constant rush has kept Louisville Water’s planning department and radio room quite busy.
“We’ve probably been averaging 12 to 15 (water main breaks) a day. Our salt truck list is a two-page affair,” said Radio Room Dispatcher Clay Martin.
This isn’t Martin’s first taste of winter chaos, but it’s nonetheless grueling.
“The thing about the one (snowstorm) last January was that it lasted like three days. It was relatively short-lived. This cold snap, it’s going to be longer,” Martin said. “We’ve just been trying to manage it. Crews have taken multiple main breaks. We had multiple crews in this weekend.”
Preparing for the Winter Wallop
With the storm arriving over the weekend, Distribution Associate Denise Vincent and the rest of the planning department lined up things in advance.
“The on-call supervisors mostly jumped in over the weekend. We tried to plan things to get them in the right direction, get flaggers and vendors set up ahead of time for them, but then they call the shots from there,” she explained.
Director of Distribution Operations Joe Schmitt brought in extra staffing to cover the anticipated spike in main breaks.
“They’ve been putting in long hours in cold, tough conditions, and it hasn’t been easy. I want to say thank you to our crews, contractors, inspectors, and the entire MDO (Managing Distributions, Operations, and Logistics) team,” Schmitt recognized.
A similar sentiment from Director of Production Operations Scott Smith, who’s ensuring things flow smoothly at both water treatment plants.
“Production, maintenance, and operations staff prepared for the predicted winter storm to ensure uninterrupted delivery of high‑quality water to our customers. Maintenance personnel were stationed at both plants from Saturday morning through Monday morning. We appreciate the dedication of these employees in serving our community,” Smith shared.
Plant Maintenance Mechanic Clayton Reesor stepped up for the late shift callout on Sunday night at Crescent Hill Water Treatment Plant.
“We tried our best to keep water lines and equipment from freezing up and assisted with snow and ice removal around treatment buildings and basins,” he said, adding, “Gotta give a shoutout to our facilities maintenance and distribution crews working all weekend to clear the snow at all our properties to keep everyone safe.”
It Takes a Team
The team effort spans several departments across all five of Louisville Water’s locations. As a 24/7 operation, our commitment to providing high-quality drinking water to nearly a million people every day doesn’t stop because of bad weather.
Right now, it may seem tougher to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or should we say pipe?
“Between 9:15 and 10:30, five main breaks came in. Just in that hour and 15 minutes,” Martin said on Tuesday.
“If a main break comes in and the water’s still left on, that’s great. We can hold it off for a while, but if it’s off, we immediately have to pivot,” said fellow dispatcher, Jonathan Berry.
Rushing to Respond
Emergency turners like Jesse Jewell are usually first on the scene to assess the situation.
“We expect this jump in main breaks during the wintertime, especially when it gets really cold like it has been. We’re just trying to keep our heads above water. My job is to find the right gate to turn off the water to isolate the break and minimize the immediate flooding in the area,” Jewell said.
With temperatures dipping well below the freezing mark, roads can quickly turn into roller rinks, as Jewell found out Wednesday morning. She was one of three emergency turners who rushed to the scene on Willis Avenue across from Seneca Park. Their urgent response cleared the way for repairs.
Plumber Leader Shawn Shaw and his crew dealt with their own icy mess on Lexington Road where a fire service line burst.
“Icy, slick roads make a repair a lot more challenging due to the fact that it makes it harder to walk around the job site. It makes it harder to find services that may be covered by snow or ice to locate them. When using your equipment to dig an area up, if you have ice or snow, the machine will slide and move while operating,” Shaw said. “Overall, the conditions make the job take longer in every aspect of it.”
Being a Good Neighbor
Across town, Plumber Leader Scott Corbin and Plumber Leader’s Assistant Shane MacGeorge rushed to check out a report of a fire hydrant that was hit. Unbeknownst to them, a neighbor captured their act of kindness to shovel a driveway for an elderly woman in need.
Lecia Nelly shared this photo with the comment, “…Not all heros wear capes. I just wanted these gentleman to be recognized!”
This image perfectly illustrates neighbor helping neighbor and that we’re all in this together, but we know we’re not out of the woods yet as winter keeps a tight grip.
Schmitt said, “Based on the forecast, we expect this to continue for another week or so. I really appreciate the hard work, teamwork, and commitment everyone is showing to get the job done.”
