Walkerton residents without water for most of Thursday

 

WALKERTON, Ind. -- Folks in Walkerton were left without running water for most of the day.

The town initially issued a boil advisory Thursday afternoon, but residents quickly voiced that they had no water at all.

“I turned my washer back on to do another load of laundry, and I was like ‘I don’t have no water!’,” says Cammie Kurlik, a Walkerton resident.

A main water line break earlier in the day was to blame.

“I have to figure out showering, if it’s not looking good, I’m not going to shower in it,” Kurlik shares.

Local water treatment specialist, Mark Joachim, says his phone was blowing up Thursday, having to deliver gallons of water to some of his customers and helping residents understand what happens to their appliances when water shuts off out of the blue.

“When the water shuts down like that, a break in the line, water goes backwards and what it’s doing is it’s drawing back from the homes,” Mark Joachim, owner of Mark’s Water Treatment Services Inc. explains.

His number one concern, cavitated or caved in water softeners due to the water draining out, which he says ruins the system completely.

“I would say, if you have a water softener, go there and check it,” Joachim advises. “Look around the tank, it can happen to steel tanks too. Look around and see if there’s any cracks in them.”

He says a rule of thumb for instances like this is to bypass your water softener to avoid damage.

Then, when the water does come back on, he advises you to remove your aerators like your shower head and flushing out the water outside of your home first.

“Run it out of your hose, outside faucet first, that way you’re flushing it out in your yard,” says Joachim.

The town of Walkerton is helping folks out by providing free cases of water bottles at the police department, and Joachim's advice he says is to avoid anyone from paying a hefty plumbing bill.

“It’s nice the police station’s giving out free water here so that’s very convenient,” says Kurlik.

“They’ll call a plumber to come and repair it... do you know how much plumbers charge?” Joachim says.

Officials with the town of Walkerton say the boil advisory will most likely stay in effect throughout the weekend.