Water outage stuns residents

FERRIS – Residents on the east side of Interstate 45 woke up without water last Wednesday.

Seems the city was fixing water leaks, but failed to tell anyone their water would be shut-off.

The ensuing outage then spread to other parts of Ferris, and was documented on Facebook’s “Citizens of Ferris” site as residents voiced their disgust with the lack of responsibility at city hall.

Karen Votteler Carreon posted, “Some sort of notice would have been nice. What is the plan for the next time this occurs?”

“My water has been shut off and on since Wednesday – without notice until Friday,” commented Elena Gonzales.

Cindy Cousins Aspin stated, “They (city) should have turned the valve off at the North Pump Station, and we would have never been out of water. No one since 2000 knows where all the cutoffs are,

“Breeze and Daddy (both former longtime public works employees) are the ones with the knowledge. Nobody will listen to either of them.”

Another very important concern was aired: “What if there was a structure fire – and there was no water pressure? Was the city prepared for such an emergency – or did it cross anyone’s mind?”

Mayor Jim Swafford responded to the calls he received early Saturday morning, posting at 6:25 a.m.: “I’m told that the Water Dept.is opening valves, and pressure should be coming back up.”

All water services were finally restored mid-day Saturday.