COOL, CLEAR WATER — Numerous cases of bottled water are stacked at a Gurdon residence for citizens in need of drinking water during a precautionary boil order that lasted more than a week. Courtesy photo
By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
In the week plus that Gurdon-area residents were given instructions they should boil the tap water they consume, one citizen took it upon herself to be the city’s unofficial water source.
A stay-at-home mother of one, Hanna Davis took the news of a precautionary boil order as a calling to help her neighbors. While the boil order was in effect, customers of Gurdon Waterworks were cautioned to boil any tap water they would be ingesting. Davis got the idea to organize a water drive, and she and her 7-year-old son kept many neighbors supplied with drinking water — right from their own front porch.
The boil order was lifted on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 22, nine days after it went into effect on the morning of Oct. 14, when a 12-inch main water line burst under the Union Pacific rail line that separates downtown from US Highway 67. Then, across town, another pipe burst. In the days that followed the repairs, residents began complaining of low water pressure. Restaurants were unable to serve drinks or ice, and convenience stations did not prepare certain food items.
“There are a lot of older folks and children who need fresh, clean water,” Davis told The Arkadelphian before the boil order was lifted, “and I [was] hearing from people every day who [had] little to no water coming from their pipes.”
Late last week, Davis secured enough monetary donations to dole out more than 100 cases of 12-ounce water bottles, and around 80 one-gallon jugs of drinking water. She reports that, as of Friday, about 70 families had been to her home at 105 Pinewood Dr. to get water.
“I feel like God has put it on my heart,” Davis said of her endeavor. On Friday morning, a big box retailer in nearby Arkadelphia donated 40 cases of bottled water — enough to fill her SUV and supply several residents with clean water. Davis reported that one donor was willing to deliver a truckload containing pallets of bottled water to her home.
While Gurdon water department employees battled their own system, two more leaks sprang up within the neighboring Whelen Springs, a wholesale customer of Gurdon Waterworks. Those leaks did not affect Gurdon customers, but did cause low water pressure there.
City officials reported that, as of Friday, all water lines had been repaired. Still, Davis said she will continue giving out water “as long as people don’t feel comfortable drinking the water. People are still reaching out and asking for water because they don’t trust the source.”
Both monetary and water donations can be dropped off or delivered to 105 Pinewood Dr.