Granada Water System Damaged by Lightning? Residents Asked to Boil Drinking Water

Granada Water Tower

Officials in Granada are recommending that residents boil their drinking water until further notice as the electrical system controlling the water pumps and purifier in the community is off line. 

Town Clerk Jackie Malone said the problem was discovered this morning, June 20, when Public Works Manager, John McMillan, went to take a reading on the wells as he does each morning.  Malone said McMillan noticed that some of the meters were blackened from what may have been a lightning strike the night before.  That hasn’t been determined at this time, but SECPA officials are going to install a metering device to help assess the level of damage to the water supply equipment.  Once that has happened, Granada officials will have a clear picture of what pieces of equipment have been damaged and will need replacing.  There is a chance that only a portion of the monitors and pumping system has been damaged.   

Residents are asked to not water their lawns at this time as no new water is being pumped from the wells until the damage has been fixed.  The Trustees has recommended that lawn watering be stopped between 10am and 4pm during the drought situation.

By Russ Baldwin