Boil water advisory issued after vandalism at Western Pulaski County Water District

WKYT) – Customers of Western Pulaski County Water District are under a boil water advisory after the district reported close to $50,000 in vandalism at one of its sites.

Joe McClendon, general manager of Western Pulaski County Water District, said that in his 22 years with the district, he has never seen this level of vandalism.

“And with this being the central hub of what went on, when we lost communication to it, we lost communication with basically everything,” McClendon said.

Equipment stolen from secured site

McClendon said the site is secured with a fence and security cameras, but the cameras were ripped out of the ground and stolen along with other equipment.

“The stuff that was stolen was the antenna on top of the tank, all the wiring and hardware, and then all the electrical components in the vault, and they stole all that stuff as well,” McClendon said.

Testing underway at 15 sites

Western Pulaski Water District serves more than 10,000 customers. The district said it is taking samples from each of its 15 sites and sending them to be tested by the Kentucky Division of Water out of an abundance of caution before lifting the boil water advisory.

“That typically takes about 48 hours. We’ve already taken the samples and took them to the lab in Lexington, and hopefully by tomorrow evening, we should have results on that,” McClendon said.

McClendon said up to $50,000 in damage was done and that it affected the operations of the system. Generators are running as a temporary fix at the site while the district waits for the power company to reinstate power.

Live power posed safety risk

McClendon said the vandalism occurred while live power was running into the station.

“They were in there stealing stuff out of the working power into that station there, so there was live power coming in that could’ve got someone electrocuted,” McClendon said.

McClendon said the district is meeting with its security company to add more cameras and motion sensors to prevent future incidents.

McClendon said when the boil water advisory is cleared, customers will be notified through the Rave Smart911 alert system, social media and the district’s website.