The city of Starkville is making improvements on its water system due to the amount of water that is being used by the city. “Until we made improvements on the system, our tanks only held a maximum capacity of 6 million gallons. We added a new pump to our fifth well, and now we have a storage capacity of 7.5 million gallons,” Starkville Mayor Mack Rutledge said.
Will these new improvements be sufficient?
“The city of Starkville is in demand of 5 million gallons of water a day. In order to have a sufficient water supply, we are planning the construction of two more storage tanks that will hold a half a million gallons each. We plan to have these finished in May of 2003,” Rutledge said.
There will be many benefits for the city once the final touches have been added to on the water system.
“Once all of the tanks are set up, we will have twice the amount of water in storage that is being used each day. This will be very sufficient for the city in case of a large fire or extended drought,” Rutledge said.
“Until now, our pumps were in use 23 hours a day due to the amount of water being used in accordance to the dry hot weather we are having. The new pump allows the other pumps to rest and backwash,” Rutledge added.
“It is our goal to produce plenty of good quality water for the citizens of Starkville to have at their use,” Rutledge said. “If the pumps aren’t allowed to backwash properly, then we would not be able to produce efficiently cleansed water.”
According to officials, it is questionable as to whether the city has enough water in supply. History shows that Starkville is headed toward a ‘dry’ period. However, according to town officials, we are not running out of water.
“We are not running out of water,” superintendent of the Starkville water department, Charles Box said. “We are making improvements now in order to benefit the city later on.”
“Currently the aquifer that is being used by the city water department to pump water is in good condition. There is no chance of this aquifer going dry any time in the near future. And, if so, there is another aquifer right below the one we are using that is accessible to us at any time of need,” Rutledge said.
This area has not received enough rain, according to certain sources.
“We are just now entering the dry season,” Charles Wax, director of the meteorology department, said.
“We will not be receiving very much rain, unless we get a break from are nearby tropical storm. It will continue to stay warm until the end of October, which is the driest month of the year,” Wax said. “It only rains about two and a half inches on average in the month of October.”
“Don’t expect much of a change in weather any time soon.”
There are measures that can be taken in order to prevent a water shortage.
“We are not planning on putting a restriction on outside water usage any time soon, because we a currently in good supply of water. But, there are measures that can be taken to help prevent this,” Rutledge said.
“Everyone should watch the amount of water that they could possibly be wasting. We aren’t saying not to water your yard, but when the water is running out into the street, that amount of water is being wasted. So, try not to overuse the water to prevent a restriction on outside water use,” Rutledge added.
Starkville has seen water shortages in the past.
“In early September of 2000, we had to place a restriction on outside water use due to an extended dry period, but during that time it was hotter and dryer than what it is now.
“Residents were not conserving, and so actions had to be taken in order to keep the pumps from running 24 hours a day none stop,” Rutledge said. “Our goal is to produce good quality water, and measures had to be taken at that time in order for us to do so.”
“Two or three years ago, students did not know anything about water conservation,” Dr. John Mylroie, professor of Geosciences said. “I had my students do a project on water conservation and only one student found out how much water, but more importantly money, they had saved in a month’s time.”
Mylroie continued to say that demand,growth, construction and leakage were most likely the causes for the improvements in the Starkville water system.
“Demand and growth are the two possible causes of this update to the water system,” Mylroie said. “Demand on the water has increased mainly because of the population increase.”
The improvements that are being done to the city’s water system will not affect MSU.
“MSU has their own water system. But, if there was ever an emergency where the city or MSU were in need of water, there are pipes situated to where water could be shared,” Rutledge said.
There are many people that are concerned about the use of our water and say that they will be taking measures for environmental purposes.
MSU students have shared many concerns as well. Most students believe in saving water.
“I have always believed in water conservation, and plan to conserve. But, as of right now, I am not worried about the city running out of water any time soon. As for the distant future, no one knows,” off-campus junior, Chelsea Miller said.
“Everyone should worry about conservation, because our population is continually growing. We should conserve now to keep ourselves out of trouble later on,” Starkville resident, Christy Byczek said.
“The Department of Health has set up a system to help us repair broken pipes and leaks as quickly as possible in order to prevent wasting water,” Rutledge said.