T-R PHOTO BY JOE FISHER
Residents of Le Grand got their water turned back on Tuesday. On Saturday, a boil order was put in place.

Residents of Le Grand were without running water for about two days due to a series of leaks in the town’s water line.

City water operator Rhonda Guy said pooling water was recognized early last week, prompting a boil order and stoppage of water service which was enacted Saturday. The boil order was in effect until Tuesday.

Residents were advised to boil their drinking water or use bottled water. The Salvation Army of Marshalltown offered bottled water to the community.

Initially, it was only one leak that was identified, but upon further inspection an additional repair was needed.

The repairs were completed by KB Excavating of Marshalltown. According to owner Bill Bjelland, wear from the aging system made the shutdown necessary.

“Our systems are getting bad like that,” he said. “[The valve] wasn’t good enough to not shut down the whole town.

Bjelland and Guy observed that old water system repairs are pretty common as some systems are reaching about 100 years old.

“It’s a common problem in the state and the country,” Guy said. “It’s just starting to age like the bones do in our bodies.”

Upon learning of the first leak, Guy; along with the City of Le Grand; began making arrangements for making the repair and informing the public. Saturday was chosen to not interfere with school.

“The city did the steps that they’re supposed to protect the public and the safety of the water,” Guy said.

Repairs took a crew of three people about 8 hours. After completion, Guy conducted two tests of the water quality in accordance with Department of Natural Resources recommendations.

It may be a couple weeks before it is known how much water leaked. There is little way of knowing how long the leak persisted before being noticed.

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Contact Joe Fisher at 641-753-6611 or jfisher@timesrepublican.com