Four water systems under boil orders

Boil water orders from the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) and landslides were topics of discussion during the April 14 meeting of Newton County's Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).
As of that morning, four water systems in the county continued to operate under ADH boil water orders.
East Newton County Water Association was under a boil order since April 7. The affected area included 11 services along County Road 6422 and County Road 6471, due to a main break. The boil water order was lifted on April 16.
The entire Mt. Sherman Water Association was without water since April 7 due to a landslide at the Ozark Mountain Water Authority's pump station. The water association was pumping raw water from its well.
Nail-Swain Water Association from the area south of Moonhull Road to Pinecrest Road was under a boil water order since last April 8 due to a water line break. It was lifted on April 18.
The Parthenon Water Association had two customers north of the water tank on Gum Springs Road boiling their water due to a main break. That happened last April 8. The ordered was terminated on April 16.
Newton County Emergency Management Officer Shane Kilgore said he contacted the Arkansas National Guard to assist provide water to the Mt. Sherman Community during its water outage.
Ranger Maggie Reyes, of the National Park Service assigned to the Buffalo National River, reported that the water outage also affected the Steel Creek campground on the river.
The Mt. Sherman Water Association was updating its customers on progress made to restore water service through social media. It announced on April 6, "There has been a landslide and it has broken the main line from Ozark Mountain water. We are unable to get water to our tank at this time. We are working on options and will keep everyone updated the best we can. We are doing everything we can to get water from wells into the tank. This will be a system wide problem and will take time to fix. Thank you for your understanding and your patience."
April 12 - "Mount Sherman Water customers on Shiloh branch and Murray branch. At 8:15 p.m., we had to shut the pump to Shiloh off to gain level on our main tank. This had to be done to ensure everyone didn’t lose water again. We will closely monitor this through the night and as soon as we can, we will restart the pumps to Shiloh. We still have a large area with no water at all and, if all goes well, we may be able to restore water to those areas tomorrow. Thank for your patience and understanding while we work through this event together.

"Right now, parts are expected no later than Monday. National guard is still stationed at the community building and plans to be here for the duration. Please note: the regular meeting of the water board has been moved from Monday (April 14) to Thursday (April 17) at the Mt Sherman Community Building."
April 13 Update: No lines are broken feeding the well. We are dealing with a pump issue, and the gallons per minute rate is too low to keep up without flow. We are doing all we can to fix this as fast as possible. Thank you for your understanding and patience. We will try to update once daily to let everyone know how things are progressing."
April 14 Update: "We are clearing and digging this morning. Pipe should arrive this morning and the well company should be here also. We are moving ahead on all fronts, Ozark Mountain has been welding the pipe for their repair all weekend and also are moving forward. This has been a very difficult situation. We are doing repairs above Carlton Creek and above Carlton fault line, any careless digging or moving of extremely heavy equipment could further move the shelf and cause an even larger slide. It may seem like we are moving slowly, but this is fastest we can move at this point. There is still plenty of bottled water cases and jugs at the community center if you need some."
Update: "Some customers may be seeing water at this time. Please note that this water is from our well and is UTILITY WATER ONLY. This water should not be used for drinking. Work is still ongoing and we will update as we can.
We are pumping water from the well. Please be mindful of your neighbors and conserve until the tanks and all water lines are full. We will be under a boil order until we have clear samples from the Health Department."
Boil water orders and updates are available online at:
https://health.arkansas.gov/wa_engTraining/boilwaterorder.aspx
Newton County has a history of landslides, particularly on state Highway 74 West in the vicinity of Mt. Sherman. A short section of the highway was reconstructed following a slide east of Mt. Sherman towards Jasper.
According to the Office of the State Geologist (geology.arkansas.gov), landslides often occur in association with road building, where excavations into the hillsides have over-steepened and reduced natural slope stability. Over-steepening of slope and removal of vegetation combined with large amounts of rainfall contribute to landslide development. A great deal of time and money is invested to repair damage to roadways and property every year in Arkansas.