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Without water, Merrill residents are making do
followed by: Merrill out of water, 7/1/10

 H&N photo by Andrew Mariman  Nate Hughes and Bill Heinrich with B&D Mobile Support fill pots of water for Merrill residents Wednesday after the city’s water level dropped and residents’ taps ran dry.

By LEE JUILLERAT and SARA HOTTMAN, Herald and News 7/1/10

MERRILL — Bill Selles picked a bad time to plant a lawn.

Selles, who lives in Merrill, put in the grass earlier this week. But after the city’s water supply ran dry shortly after midnight Wednesday, he’s not sure if his new lawn will make it.

That’s an inconvenience. Having water for drinking and cooking is another matter.

That’s why Bill Heinrich, co-owner of B&D Mobile Support of Klamath Falls, got a call at 1:30 a.m. His company, which was called to help after Hurricane Katrina and has worked at several forest fires and disasters, provided two water tankers, one filled with 2,000 gallons of water and one with 3,500.

Heinrich was stationed at Merrill Elementary School and his partner, Dave Jensen, parked at Merrill City Hall. The tankers filled at fire hydrants in Malin, then drove to Merrill. Jensen refilled his truck late that afternoon, and said the trucks likely would remain in the town through the night.

Helping out

“Everybody’s helping everybody,” Jensen said. “Some people have been here eight to 10 times, helping neighbors.”

Just how long Merrill will be without water is uncertain.

Bob Bunyard, of the Klamath Pump Center, was called to help at 1 a.m.

“I told them there was nothing I could do, you guys are out of water,” Bunyard said. “I can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat.”

Bunyard said the outage resulted because the water level at the city well dropped. The pump was at a depth of 70 feet, but he said it will be lowered another 40 feet.

Bunyard said it’s hoped the shaft to extend the pump deeper will arrive today and be installed by Friday afternoon.

Throughout the day Wednesday, Heinrich and volunteer Nate Hughes filled all sorts and sizes of containers — from tubs to bottles — for people like Selles.

“I turned my water on last night and there wasn’t any,” Selles said. “I searched all the pipe for a break and I didn’t find one.”

Selles and others learned about the outage, some by calling the Merrill Water Department, some by the city police

 
Merrill out of water
 
Without water, residents are making do 
 
Tankers parked at elementary school, city hall providing water to residents 
 
By LEE JUILLERAT and SARA HOTTMAN, Herald and News 7/1/10
 
H&N photo by Andrew Mariman   Mikey Gardner, with Klamath Pump Center, works on Merrill’ city well Wednesday after the town lost its domestic water due to a drop in the well’s water level.
 
     MERRILL — Bill Selles picked a bad time to plant a lawn.
 
   Selles, who lives in Merrill, put in the grass earlier this week. But after the city’s water supply ran dry shortly after midnight Wednesday, he’s not sure if his new lawn will make it.
 
   That’s an inconvenience. Having water for drinking and cooking is another matter.
 
   That’s why Bill Heinrich, coowner of B&D Mobile Support of Klamath Falls, got a call at 1:30 a.m. His company, which was called to help after Hurricane Katrina and has worked at several forest fires and disasters, provided two water tankers, one filled with 2,000 gallons of water and one with 3,500.   Heinrich was stationed at Merrill Elementary School and his partner, Dave Jensen, parked at Merrill City Hall. The tankers filled at fire hydrants in Malin, then drove to Merrill. Jensen refilled his truck late that afternoon, and said the trucks likely would remain in the town through the night.
 
   Helping out
 
   “Everybody’s helping everybody,” Jensen said. “Some people have been here eight to 10 times, helping neighbors.” Just how long Merrill will be without water is uncertain. Bob Bunyard, of the Klamath Pump Center, was called to help at 1 a.m. “I told them there was nothing I could do, you guys are out of water,” Bunyard said. “I can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat.”
 
   Bunyard said the outage resulted because the water level at the city well dropped. The pump was at a depth of 70 feet, but he said it will be lowered another 40 feet.
 
   Bunyard said it’s hoped the shaft to extend the pump deeper will arrive today and be installed by Friday afternoon.
 
   Throughout the day Wednesday, Heinrich and volunteer Nate Hughes filled all sorts and sizes of containers — from tubs to bottles — for people like Selles.
 
   “I turned my water on last night and there wasn’t any,” Selles said. “I searched all the pipe for a break and I didn’t find one.”
 
   Selles and others learned about the outage, some by calling the Merrill Water Department, some by the city police.
 
   No morning coffee
 
   Diane Meyer learned Wednesday morning while trying to make a pot of coffee for her husband, Ed, and seeking fresh water for her dogs. The Meyers were among the steady line of people who filled containers.
 
   “Everybody’s pretty much calm,” Heinrich said of water seekers.
 
   During some free time, Hughes calculated the two huge containers had 401,280 ounces of water.
 
   Sharon Cosand planned to use her ounces for her house.
 
   Unlike others who went without showers — “You might not want to come too close. I haven’t had a shower,” said Bev Coffman, another Merrill resident — Cosand went to her parents’ house outside of town and showered.  
 
   Pappy Gander restaurant served canned sodas Wednesday afternoon because its fountain soda dispensers use water, said Megan McDougal, a part-owner. The restaurant used water trucked in from Malin to wash dishes, and was serving bottled water it had on hand.
 
   Martin’s Food Center stopped cutting meat because there was no hot water to clean with, and owner Martin Hicks said bottled water was selling steadily throughout the day. By 3:30 p.m., he said, the shelf was full but the stock room was empty.
 
   “We had one gal come in this morning and say, ‘One case of water ought to be good for one shower,’ ” he said.  
 
   Later that afternoon the store was mostly empty, and only Doug Mann of Malin was stocking up on gallon jugs of water. He said he normally buys five-gallon jugs, but the store was out. Flats of smaller bottles of water appeared to be mostly stocked, though there were only five-gallon jugs still on the shelf.   
 
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              Page Updated: Friday July 02, 2010 02:42 AM  Pacific


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