By The Chronicle, The Chronicle, 3/3/99
PE ELL - Water woes continue to plague Pe Ell, striking again Tuesday morning with another broken pipe.
This time, a hillside gave way between the town's Lester Creek water supply and its treatment plant, taking part of the 10-inch plastic pipeline with it.
The slide dropped the section toward the Chehalis River.
At about 10 a.m., the treatment plant operator suddenly heard a sucking or vacuuming sound at the facility, said Mayor John Penberth. The operator soon realized a pipe had broken and was draining the town's reservoir.
The operator stopped the spillage, but townspeople must rely on water left in the reservoir in the meantime.
A boil-water order remains in effect for the town because state and county health officials say the town's treatment plant cannot guarantee safe decontamination from biological organisms.
Penberth said Tuesday he believed the 350,000-gallon reservoir supply should last until repairs could be completed this morning.
"We're running off of reserves now," he said.
Engineering consultants from Gray and Osbome Inc., Seattle, were in town Tuesday evaluating the problem, Penberth said.
"This just goes along with everything else," he said. "Our system is old, and it's in need of replacement."
About $50,000 in repairs have been made to the treatment plant, eliminating turbidity problems during backwash, Penberth said.
This should prevent parasites such as giardia and chryptosporidium from passing through the plant into the drinking water.
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