Amanda Pevey
Elmore Autauga News
Families across Pine Level, Marbury, Deatsville, and surrounding communities are being asked to conserve water after the Marbury Water System announced an emergency conservation plan in response to a temporary reduction in its water supply.
The shortage began after the system’s primary supplier took one of its 2-million-gallon storage tanks offline for rehabilitation, reducing the amount of water available to Marbury Water by approximately half. The utility normally purchases between 800,000 and 1 million gallons of water per day.
Residents with questions are invited to attend a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, at the Pine Level Community Center.
Under Phase 3 of the conservation plan, customers are asked to use water only for essential needs such as drinking, cooking, bathing, laundry, and watering animals. Residents are asked to avoid washing vehicles, homes, and driveways, filling swimming pools, and watering lawns.
Small vegetable gardens and flowers may be watered once a week for two hours. Even-numbered addresses may water on Tuesdays, while odd-numbered addresses may water on Wednesdays.
Marbury Water officials said they received confirmation of the maintenance schedule on May 16 after being told in March that repairs would occur sometime this summer.
“We understand that this was extremely short notice,” the utility said in a statement to customers. “Our main goal is to make sure that our customers have enough water for their everyday needs.”
The utility said it continues to pursue long-term solutions, including a $2 million grant to drill test wells and plans for a treatment plant that would restore an existing well and provide additional capacity for future growth.
Zachary Bigley said the meeting will give customers a chance to hear directly from Marbury Water representatives.
“As the town mayor, we have a lot of concerned citizens,” Bigley said. “This affects Pine Level, Marbury, Deatsville, and even into Chilton County a little bit. It is a big water system.”
“I hope that we can have a very productive dialogue and we can come to a quick solution that can help our community to move forward,” Bigley said.
As summer temperatures rise, local leaders are asking residents to do their part to conserve water so families throughout the region continue to have access to this essential resource.
