Bland Public Works Director John Dean said this morning that city residents will experience an interruption in water services every day through June 15, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at noon.
Dean added that there is a potential, depending on the difficulty of the job, that services will also need to be off between 1 and 3 p.m. if necessary.
“We did not know the information until May 31,” Dean said about the short notice. “We are going to make every effort to get everyone notified. Everything is fluid. If they run into problems this morning I won't be shutting the water off.”
Comments on the city of Bland’s Facebook page asked if the water needed to be boiled because of the shut-off.
“No,” Dean said. “Our water is chlorinated, so a boil order is not necessary. I was around town yesterday testing. Our chlorine levels are exactly where they need to be so folks don’t have to worry.”
However, Dean said he has had calls where residents said the water is slightly cloudy.
“If that happens, just run the water until it clears.”
He added that the public works department is flushing hydrants around town to prevent the water from being cloudy as well.
The city of Bland has been working on grants for its water project for the past seven years. They broke ground at the beginning of 2022 to replace old pipes and fire hydrants that were out of order. The purpose of the city-wide shut-off is to hook up the new water mains, cap the old water mains, and eventually connect to the new water tower. The work is being completed by Don Maggi Construction located in Rolla.
