Lyons city water muddied with potassium permanganate
Pottasium permanganate is making one city of nearly a thousand people in Northeast Nebraska go without clean water.
By News Channel Nebraska
LYONS -- The city of Lyons in eastern Nebraska is seeing discolored water.
Utilities Supervisor Terry Ueding told NCN their old water plant had been in place since 1978. Over the decades, it's become rusty and started leaking. After a quick-fix temporary solution of cementing down leaks wore away, the state officially gave Lyons a deadline to replace the filter plant by December of 2022.
Ueding said the schedule for the replacement has changed multiple times, but that they are still ahead of schedule. The process began three years ago with Bolson Engineering in Lincoln. After putting bids out and agreeing with a general contractor, Lyons then started to take out the filter beds.
It's during that step that they're now facing issues.
"We had to completely tear out the filter plant to replace it," Ueding said. In the meantime, Lyons brought in a portable water filter which sits on a semi truck, where the water is now being piped from.
That truck, from the company West Tech, is malfunctioning. Due to some valves not working in the filter system, it's delivering clumps of potassium permanganate into the water. The substance is used for oxidation while the water is going through an iron and magnesium removal.
While officials say it's not dangerous, they do note that it is a terrible-tasting substance that residents cannot use to wash whites, bathe in, or use for many other chores.
"We're working on getting those valve parts but it's taking time especially with these supply chain issues," Ueding said. However, the company is confident parts should come in by the end of the week, he said.
In the meantime, Lyons is changing the way they backwash and cutting down on the potassium.
Ueding recommends people stock up on bottled water, and do not use their water to wash whites. You should be able to run the water for a while to flush some of the discoloration out, he said.
He said of the 870 people Lyons serves water to, "about half of them half been calling me up."
A new plant should be up by the end of this month.