Officials with the City of Marion say they met with the Division of Water and the National Guard Tuesday morning to discuss more viable options for alleviating the city’s water crisis. Officials indicate the city currently has a 19-to-20-day supply of water, with no significant rain expected for the next 10 days. Because of this, Stage 3 emergency procedures remain in effect and city residents are asked to continue to limit water usage to necessary activities of daily living such as personal hygiene, washing laundry, cooking, etc., and to avoid unnecessary water usage such as watering lawns, washing vehicles, and filling swimming pools.
According to officials, the National Guard plans to coordinate a convoy to haul water from the Ohio and/or Cumberland rivers to City Lake to help support the city’s water supply, pending chemistry results of water samples from these locations. In addition, the state transportation cabinet will help with the preparations of City Lake. Officials indicate that the results from the water sample testing and the water hauling convoy should be available later this week, which will be released to the public. Additionally, officials say they expect partial water needs to be met by Crittenden-Livingston, Webster and Caldwell counties.
Marion officials say they have more meetings planned for Tuesday to coordinate with regional water supply partners to discuss additional efforts. The National Guard, Emergency Management, County and City will be coordinating a water distribution program to begin operation as early as Thursday, with full details to be released Tuesday afternoon.
