The city of Hooper Bay on Alaska’s western coast is without water due to a water pump failure linked to a power outage, according to the city administration and the state Emergency Operations Center.
The city uses a hauled water system and is working to identify and repair leaks in the 500,000 gallon holding tank that were present before the power outage. But an open fire hydrant, resulting in significant water loss, has put leak repairs on hold.
“They were trying to identify leaks in the system,” said Hooper Bay City Administrator Sandra Tall-Lake. “They did find a few of them and got those repaired, but since the water ran out they are unable to locate any other leaks.”
The city said that it cannot assess the full extent of issues until water has been returned to the system, but wrote in an emailed statement that “We are continuing to treat and transfer water, but until this process is complete, the community remains without water and sewer services.”
Hooper Bay is currently under a boil water notice.
A maintenance worker from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) was able to help restore power to the water system, according to the health care provider, but the community’s water storage wasn’t ready to be used as of the afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 11.
Hooper Bay’s school is closed until water is restored to the community; YKHC said that the local health clinic remains open.
Tall-Lake said that while Hooper Bay has coordinated with an Anchorage food bank to provide pallets of clean water, they are looking to connect with nearby resources to get water into the city quicker. Health provider YKHC also sent an additional pallet of water to the community.
This is a developing story and may be updated with additional information.
