The Jefferson County Water Authority, which serves Festus and Herculaneum, shut down its water plant Sunday and the cities began using their reserve wells to provide water to customers.
Typically, the Water Authority uses treated water from the Mississippi River. However, a problem was discovered with the water from the plant, so the reserve wells have been used since Sunday (May 12), said Matt Clemens, the Festus Public Works director and a Water Authority board member.
He said floodwater is covering the “collector well” at the banks of the Mississippi River at the Cathy Jokerst Water Plant in Herculaneum, where water for the plant comes from, making it difficult to find the source of the problem.
“Water came in dirty from a collector well of the plant,” he said Monday (May 13). “The water’s too high to get to. They’re looking at the option of getting divers (to investigate).”
Clemens said he does not know how long the reserve wells will be used.