Pine Bluff's water system is back to full capacity -- at a cost of close to $600,000.
That was the assessment Monday from Mike Beatty, a vice president with Liberty Utilities, who spoke at a weekly update meeting put into place a month ago when the city's water system was near collapse.
"We are back to normal." Beatty said. "We don't feel like there's anything major to fix."
Plant pressures were between 59 psi and almost 66 psi, which are within the normal range, and the daily use was averaging in the range of 10 million gallons a day, which is where it should be.
During a cold snap in mid-February, temperatures got as low as zero degrees, and even the high temperatures for several days were below freezing. The bitter weather froze pipes that then burst and began leaking, causing the water pressure to fall into the mid-20 psi range, which was dangerously close to a level requiring a boil order.
Liberty brought in its own personnel from other properties across the country as well as contractors to help find and repair the leaks. Those 124 people have now gone home, some leaving late last week, Beatty said.
In a disaster declaration Liberty provided County Judge Gerald Robinson, the utility estimated the entire cost of finding and making the repairs to the system would be more than $583,000.
Robinson, in late February, issued a disaster emergency proclamation that detailed the cost to Liberty of making the repairs. In additional comments on the "Request for Assistance" form, it stated that 360 homes had frozen and leaking water lines and that UAPB had been out $140,000 when it had to move students out of their housing because of problems associated with the lack of water pressure.
Many other businesses and entities were affected by the water problems, including Jefferson Regional Medical Center, which had to stop accepting patients during the height of the crisis, and Saracen Casino Resort, which had to close for almost seven full days.
Beatty, who lives in Missouri, said he would be going home sometime this week but would be back from time to time over the next month or so.
At the end of Monday's meeting, the subject came up as to whether to keep holding the weekly update sessions. Karen Blevins, director of the Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management, said the county judge had scheduled them through March, and suggested Beatty could join the meetings on Zoom if the meetings continued to be held. No one else attended the meeting in person on Monday except Beatty and Blevins.